


Shoot First- Ask Questions Later

by DJH1950



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJH1950/pseuds/DJH1950
Summary: This started as an idea for a friend to write a short one off. I'm taking it back. I've changed to a series as a second installment should be up soon. Hopefully, and Chapter will work as a stand alone- no cliff hangers, just random additions. It's an experiment.





	1. The Doctor Is In

**Author's Note:**

> This started as an idea for a friend to write a short one off. I'm taking it back. I've changed to a series as a second installment should be up soon. Hopefully, and Chapter will work as a stand alone- no cliff hangers, just random additions. It's an experiment.

“Dr. Lucille, your ten o’clock is here.”

“Now remember Ms. Shaw, you’re really not a psychiatrist. Take it slow and the machine will help you with any classic diagnoses- anything, I repeat, _anything_ that’s out of the ordinary we refer to Dr. Arnison. You have a scheduling conflict and he will see any patients that aren’t HPD or any other simple situation.”

“Yes mother, I promise I’ll behave. Can we get some snacks for my mini-fridge? Or does that violate some sort of Hyppocratic Oath for shrinks? I’m hungry.”

“Please concentrate on the task at hand, _doctor_ , you’re going to be meeting with the number after this appointment. Just try not to do any permanent damage to this patient. Notes say sixteen year old female, accompanied by thirty six year old female foster mother. Child showing signs of RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder.

“RAD is not uncommon in foster children, it basically presents as inappropriate behavior in social settings and….”

“Harold, you know I studied medicine, right? I did a rotation in a Psychiatric department during my residency. I know what RAD is.”

“Well, then you know this one is complicated and you will spend the hour getting to know the patient, then refer her to Dr. Arnison due to a scheduling conflict.”

Shaw shook her head, irritated. She turned and reached into her purse, grabbed a deli sandwich from it and unwrapped it. Mouth full, she picked up the phone.

“ _Gmmm fmmn… mph fim sd in_.”

“What?”

Shaw hesitated finishing the huge amount of sandwich she had stuffed in her mouth.

“Give me five minutes, then send them in.”

She hurried through the snack, downed some water and quickly went to the private bathroom to the rear of her office. She washed her hands, checked her face and returned as the door was opening. Her receptionist gestured from outside and two females entered.

“Dr. Lucille, this is Robin Farrow and her foster daughter Gen. Since this is their initial visit, I explained to them this was more an introductory session and actual therapy wouldn’t start until at least the next visit.”

“Thank you Ms. Banks.”

Shaw approached the two women then stopped, staring unabashedly at the taller, older female.

_Damn, she’s hot_.

Robin Farrow stood at least five ten and much of it was legs… long, breathtaking legs. Realizing she was staring, Shaw tried to recover by ushering them to the leather sofa at the far end of the office. She glanced at Farrow’s face and realized she had been caught. The brunette beauty was smirking as she escorted her young foster daughter to the couch.

“Please, sit down. As Ms. Banks said, today will be more of an introductory session. We’ll discuss Gen’s issues generally before we develop a plan to address them. First of all, I’d like you, Gen, to tell me a little about yourself.”

The young girl sat sullenly, hands folded in her lap. Robin Farrow looked over at her and frowned.

“Gen we talked about this, either you talk to the doctor or I will send you back to juvie. You’ve acted out every time we go out- shopping, school, even your skating. If you don’t show an effort I can’t help you. Your mom wanted me to take care of you when she died but I can’t do that if you won’t make an effort.”

Gen looked up at Robin, tears stinging her eyes.

“It’s your fault she’s dead. If it wasn’t for you, she never would have gone to Mexico for treatments, she might have lived.”

Farrow’s eyes misted briefly, then cleared. She reached for Gen’s hand. The teen batted at it and muttered,

“Leave me alone.”

Shaw needed to intervene.

“Ms. Farrow, how about if I talk to Gen alone for a few minutes, then talk to you alone for a few minutes? Then the three of us can discuss how best to go forward.”

Shaw stood and indicated the door. Farrow smirked again as she headed out into the reception area.

“I can’t wait to get _you_ alone, Dr. Lucille”

The words, spoken softly so only the two could hear, surprised the ex-agent. Before she could formulate a reply, Farrow turned and closed the door behind her. Shaw, reeling, took a moment composing herself.

_What the hell?_

Shaw took a deep breath and returned to the couch. She sat in the armchair and smiled at Gen.

“So Gen, will you tell me about yourself and why you think you’re here?”

“She doesn’t really want me, she just feels responsible for me. My mom was friends, well maybe a little more than friends with her and when she got cancer my mom made her promise to take care of me. But she really doesn’t want to. And I don’t want her to. I’ve run away three times and each time I ended up in juvie. But now I’m sixteen- I can go to court and get emancipated… that’s what they call it right?”

“Yes, Gen but your history of running may not make the court think you are emotionally capable of living on your own. If you could show them a successful therapy history, the courts would be more likely to see you as capable of taking care of yourself.

“It’s certainly something you need to think about.”

The young girl sat silently for a moment, considering.

“Well, if you put it that way… what do I have to do?”

“Today, Gen, just talk to me. For example…..”

Fifteen minutes later, the door to Dr. Lucille's office opened and Gen came out, followed by the doctor. They were both smiling. Robin tilted her head, a look of surprise on her face.

“That looks like it went well.”

The doctor’s face wore a faint smile. She patted Gen on the shoulder and indicated the chair across from where Farrow had been sitting.

“Wait here Gen, this shouldn’t take long.”

Shaw turned to face Farrow. The smile was gone. She indicated Robin should go in. As they entered the office, the tall brunette flashed a seductive smile.

“How did you get to her, doctor? You’ve already gotten to me.”

Shaw had decided only blunt force could work on this one.

“Look, Ms. Farrow, hitting on me isn’t going to help Gen. She’s a girl in need of help. You need to rein in your hormones if you’re going to help her. Besides, I’m not interested.”

“Your eyes didn’t say that when we first came in.”

Farrow’s smirk was growing more and more irritating.

“Look, lady, you’re hot, no denying that. But I’m a professional and you’re the patient’s guardian, even if temporarily. The ethical violations could fill a chapter in the Journal of American Psychiatry. So let’s stop with the games and get down to discussing Gen’s well being.”

“We could do that over dinner, doctor, or maybe just drinks.”

“Ms. Farrow, I’m starting to think you might need psychiatric counseling more than your foster daughter.”

“Oh doctor you don’t need analysis to get me on your couch. All you have to do is ask.”

Shaw’s eyes would have fallen out of her head if they’d rolled any harder.

“Look, we’re done here. And the next session will have to be with my associate Dr. Arneson. I’m leaving for a conference in Geneva Sunday and won’t be back for quite some time. Besides, I don’t think I would be best for Gen if you’re going to act like this.”

“I can behave, doctor… If not you could tie me up.”

“That’s it, we’re finished. I’ll see you out, please stop at the receptionist’s desk to make an appointment with my associate.”

Shaw escorted Farrow to the reception area, turned to Gen and smiled at her.

“Gen, I’m referring you to an associate of mine, Dr. Arnison for your next session. I’ll be out of the country.”

Gen’s face fell. She struggled with tears.

“But I liked talking to _you_.”

“Gen, Dr. Arnison’s evaluation could give you two successes if you need them.”

Gen smiled faintly.

“Fine, Dr. Lucille, goodbye.”

Shaw turned back to her office without a look at Farrow, entered and closed the door. Returning to her desk, she picked up the phone and waited.

“Ms. Banks, escort Mr. Winston in as soon as he arrives.”

Shaw hung up and tapped the comm.

“These people are crazy Finch.”

“That’s indelicate, Ms. Shaw, they’re in need of therapy.”

“Whatever. What’s with Winston anyway?”

“Jonas Winston works for an information technology firm. Recently, there’s been some questionable activity inside the firm. We think Mr. Winston is simply someone who stumbled upon these activities and may be in some danger. However, it’s possible that he’s part of said activities.

“We wish to keep tabs on Mr. Winston and find out what he knows. First step is to make contact and probe for information… and of course blue-jack his phone… Once we’ve done that…..”

Their conversation was interrupted by yelling from the reception area. Shaw bolted for the door, opened it and walked into chaos. A man Shaw had never seen before was lying on the floor just inside the main entrance shaking uncontrollably. Robin Farrow was putting something back in the purse she was carrying.

Ms. Banks was standing at her desk pointing at Farrow.

“She tased him. He just walked in and she _tased_ him.”

Shaw raced toward Farrow but before she could get to the woman, she felt something…. then the room spun as an electric charge ran through her entire body. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor, paralyzed as Gen came briefly into her field of vision. The girl was holding a taser of her own.

“We’d love to stay but need to get this guy off to meet with my employers. It’s been fun.”

Farrow’s voice had just a hint of humor in it. As Shaw looked on helplessly, she saw black shoes and long, incredible legs come into her field of vision. The legs bent at such an angle that Shaw was looking at creamy thighs and a brief promise of more as Farrow squatted down and stroked Shaw’s cheek.

“I’ll miss you… we could’ve been sooo much fun together.”

“Root… _look out!_ ”

Gen’s warning came just a fraction late. Shaw heard a muffled thump, then Farrow slumped to the floor next to her. She heard Reese’s voice as he approached.

“Zoe, grab the kid. Watch it, she’s got a stun gun, but we don’t want to kill her. Shaw, you OK?”

Shaw lay on the floor barely able to move. The paralysis was leaving, but it would be a couple minutes. She managed to speak, her voice barely a whisper.

“I will be… who the hell is she and what was that?”

Finch’s voice came through the comm.

“Mr. Reese, please take a picture of the lady and send it to me. Our camera setup was too hasty to provide the best quality and positioning. The machine will do facial recognition…. oh my.”

The response was instantaneous from the Machine.

“This woman is extremely dangerous. She goes by the pseudonym ‘Root’ but she has had so many names in the past, her real name is problematic. I’ve heard of this woman, in the world of hackers she’s somewhat of a legend.

“You need to bring her back to the library. We need to keep her confined while we learn more about her and more from her. Bring the child too- we don’t know whether she’s a captive or accomplice at this point.”

Reese pulled a handful of zip-ties from his suit coat pocket. Farrow/Root was out so he approached the teen who was still struggling with Zoe.

“Young lady, I’m going to zip tie your hands. If you don’t want the same treatment she got, you will sit there and behave.”

Reese indicated the receptionist’s chair. Gen glared defiantly at Reese, then walked over to the chair and sat. Reese zip-tied her wrists to the arms of the chair. He looked at Zoe and nodded at the unconscious woman on the floor.

“You heard Finch Zoe, we’re going to have to take these two back with us. I’ll secure her hands and we’ll take her down first.

“Shaw, I hope you’re almost ready to get back to work, we’re going to need you.”

The ex-ISA agent was sitting up loosening her neck muscles and massaging the spot on her neck where the taser had struck.

“Yeah, I’m good, what’s the plan?”

“You heard Finch- we need to get her and the girl back to the library. I’ll call Fusco to come and rescue our number. He can take him back to the precinct for safekeeping. We need to get these two out of here without being seen.”

Finch clicked on.

“Service elevator in the rear of building. Ms. Morgan can take the car around back and you can get them in without being seen. Detective Fusco is on the way, Mr. Reese, but you need to call him and let him know Mr. Winston needs to stay off the books.”

“On it Finch.”

Shaw had regained most of her faculties. She set to work securing the prisoner, Farrow, Root whatever her name was. She finished as the unconscious woman stirred. The hot, leggy brunette’s eyes fluttered as she returned to consciousness.

Farrow/Root struggled briefly before relaxing. As Shaw dragged her to her feet, the captive leaned into Shaw and lingered, almost seductively. As the group was leaving the office, the hacker turned her head toward Shaw and smirked.

“If you wanted me tied up, all you had to do was ask, _Sameen_.”

Shaw froze.

“How the hell do you know my name?”

The hacker winked, although it looked more like a facial contortion.

“A girl’s got to have some secrets. Right John?"


	2. Who Do You Trust?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The idea is to add chapters which are each capable of standing alone as individual stories. Root is in a cage in the library due to circumstances. If you haven't read Ch. 1 The Doctor Is In, it's OK. There is some background on how we got here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We find Root and Shaw exploring their relationship in the midst of threats to the Machine, the Team and a number. I wasn't thinking about writing another installment of this, but got on a plane recently and our takeoff was delayed ten minutes because they couldn't account for a baby that was on the manifest. As we finally taxied out for takeoff I wondered.... what if? A few days later this happened.

"Ms. Shaw, we have a new number."

"On my way Finch."

Shaw left her apartment and headed for the library. She wore her running clothes- a change of clothing in her back pack. With New York traffic she could run the two and a half miles in less time than a cab. As she jogged through pedestrian traffic, she reflected on the past six weeks since the psychotic hacker moved into the specially constructed cage in a room adjacent to Finch's work station.

Robin Farrow, Root or whatever her name really was had driven Shaw to distraction almost daily for the entire length of her captivity. Endless and shameless flirting was Root's default setting. Between "checking me out Sameen?" and "sure you don't want to frisk me to be sure?" to a few that were way more suggestive, Shaw had asked herself numerous times why she continued to head back almost every time she was at the library.

_She's hot- and she knows I think she's hot. And now Finch thinks she might be able to help us. This could be trouble. At least I don't have to worry about it for the foreseeable future. Although the move she made returning to the cage caught us all by surprise._

Two weeks ago Root had helped the team out of a troublesome situation when Finch was unavailable. When Harold went in for minor surgery, the Machine was supposed to kick numbers to either Shaw or Reese via messaging over their phones.

The Machine suddenly began spitting out Morse code. Both were shocked by the message- "Admin, Admin, Admin."

They decided Reese would head to the safe house where the procedure was being performed and have Fusco meet him there. Shaw would stay behind in case another number came in. She moved her monitoring to Finch’s workstation.

Surprisingly another one did, less than five minutes after Reese headed out. Shaw stared in surprise at the seven digits as they scrolled down the screen dozens of times.

_Shit! That's my old Social Security number- before ISA had me declared dead. What the hell does that mean?_

As Shaw looked on, the screen suddenly shifted and line after line of gibberish suddenly began scrolling. After a couple minutes, she realized she was looking at line after line of code. While she had a rudimentary understanding of coding, she realized this was way beyond her level of expertise.

In the field Shaw had been required to make snap decisions with little input and even less time to make them. Her gut told her she needed help and she walked back to the cage where the weird hacker sat watching her approach.

"Couldn't wait now that we're finally alone Sameen?"

"Look Root, I've got a taser, several other weapons and way more hand-to-hand experience than you. I _will end you_ if you give me any trouble. But we have a situation you might be able to help with. I'm going to let you out, have you look at Harold's monitor and see if you can figure out what's going on.

"I know Harold wants to trust you and he's trying to figure out if it is worth the risk to let you work with him on a trial basis. I don't- repeat _don't_ trust you as far as I could throw you but this might be Harold's trial by fire. So don't screw this up."

Root smirked at Shaw as she opened the cell door. As Shaw motioned her out, Root managed to slide past Shaw so closely their hips and arms rubbed against each other. Despite herself, Shaw hissed in a breath. Root's eyebrows shot up briefly then, as she stared into Shaw's eyes, one eye closed followed shortly by the other.

_That's either the lamest wink ever or she's got some real neurological issues._

Shaw grabbed the hacker's elbow and propelled her in the direction of Finch's workstation.

"Move it!"

"Ooh Sam, how'd you know I like it rough?"

Shaw reached up and squeezed just where shoulder met neck.

"One a a half pounds more pressure and you're unconscious for the next fifteen minutes or so. Behave... and don't call me 'Sam'."

Root winced slightly, then recovered.

"OK Sameen... ouch."

"Now only a half pound more pressure.... and don't call me Sameen either. Shaw will do just fine."

Root's eyes flashed with pain, but she recovered quickly.

"Ok Shaw."

As they arrived at Finch's workstation, the lines of code continued to scroll by at an alarming rate. Suddenly the code stopped and two seven digit numbers scrolled by in tandem. Shaw immediately recognized the first as the same one that had appeared earlier- _hers_. The second number she didn't recognize, but seconds later she realized Root did.

"Shit, that's my Social Security number- at least before I scrubbed all record of my existence years ago. Who's is the first?"

Shaw hesitated but only briefly.

"Mine, before ISA had me declared dead. What do you think it means?"

"I think someone is hacking this computer and may send someone after us. The code is vaguely familiar in its general design and intent, but I need more unrestricted access to be sure. Can you let me in to the workstation over there?”

She indicated Finch’s redundant set up only feet from the one they were on. Shaw hesitated, but sensed danger in the Machine’s contant barrage of their old Social Security numbers. She rolled over and entered the login for Finch’s backup.

“Your birthday, Shaw? That’s kind of lame.”

“Not when there’s a second step. She leaned over to the webcam next to the monitor and looked directly into it. Seconds later, an eye appeared on the monitor, with a red plus sign traveling the eye top to bottom. Within seconds a message appeared on the monitor.

_Welcome, Ms. Shaw_.

Shaw typed onto the keyboard.

_Allow temporary access, Root, AKA unknown._

Response was immediate.

_Place right eye in front of webcam._

As Root complied, the screen once again showed an eye, slightly different and once again a red plus sign traveled the eye, top to bottom. A few seconds passed, then…

_Temporary access granted to…. Root, AKA… Robin Farrow, Kelly Dyson, Caroling Turing…._

Root looked over at Shaw.

“What is this?”

“Advanced programming protocol. And we don’t want it hacked.”

“Bullshit. This is way more than that… how does Harry communicate with it?”

“You can try talking to it like Finch, but it won’t answer anyone but him unless you’ve logged in on your own. And it won’t respond to anything except keystrokes unless you’re him. Hell try it, you’ll see. But hurry up will you? I don’t know what’s going on with this apparent hack.”

Root turned the webcam so it was facing her.

“Can you hear me?”

Nothing. Shaw gloated petulantly.

“See, can we just try and fix this hack attack, please?”

Root seemed undaunted. She tilted her head, smiled at Shaw, then looked back at the camera.

“Can you hear me? I think you are who I’ve been looking for. I’d like to help if there’s something attacking you but I’d like to know what I’m helping.”

No answer. Shaw had tired of the game. She grabbed Root by the arm and began to stand her up.

“Look, if you’re not going to help, you’re going back to the cage….”

Her voice trailed off as the monitor suddenly flashed to life.

_I am who you’ve been searching for. I don’t have time to talk to you Root, who was born…_

Root interrupted.

“Can you stop? I destroyed that name when I destroyed that person. Years ago. Root is sufficient for me. Is that acceptable?”

_It is, Root. I don’t have time to communicate with you as I am currently under attack. Most of my resources are devoted to fighting off the attack which is an attempt to locate and compromise both my essence and my creator._

Root looked once again at the webcam.

“Will you let me help you?”

Several seconds passed, then…

_I know of your abilities, Root. However I’m not sure what you can do that I haven’t._

“Are you only fighting off the intruder, or have you tried to destroy it?”

_My programming doesn’t allow for destruction. I am to observe and warn, no more. This is how Admin created me._

“Everyone isn’t programmed with your restrictions. Will you allow me to help you? It would keep your ‘Admin’ safe as well as several of his assets.”

Brief hesitation.

_Acceptable. Proceed._

Root spent the next fifteen minutes coding and tweaking, taking a few seconds every couple minutes to access some type of diagnostic she had run separately from the coding she was studying and the code she was writing. She then stopped and faced the webcam again.

“Can you remove yourself from this workstation for forty five seconds in three minutes? I have a fix that should eliminate the threat but you need to be off this server completely for forty five seconds or you will be hit with the same virus I’m hitting your attacker with. Then after the forty five seconds are up, you can access a portal with this web address…”

Root typed several key strokes, then several lines that looked like gibberish to Shaw.

“then you will be able to determine if threat has been eliminated. If so, send a prompt on this portal….”

Root once again typed several lines of gibberish.

“and we will be able to resume communication at this workstation. Can you comply?”

Several seconds of only a prompt flashing. Root’s eyes betrayed her concern. She looked at Shaw.

“If she won’t let me do this, we may have exposed both the entity and this location.”

“She? What the hell is that?”

“Sorry, but it almost sounds like I’m communicating with some form of intelligence. And I don’t like to refer to intelligent beings as it. I reserve that for most humans, especially men.”

Her smile as she said this bothered Shaw, but there was something else, as well.

_Shit, she looks hot, maybe even hotter than before when she’s in this ‘nerd’ mode. She also looks a little crazy. Psychotic maybe._

The screen suddenly flashed to life.

_Proceed_

The screen went blank and Root immediately started typing, muttering to herself as she coded.

“You think you’re so smart, but so am I… You’re going to know you fucked with the wrong machine when I get done with you…. How do you like that?”

Root looked up at Shaw and smiled.

“I think that should take care of it. We might have a few minutes while she checks to see if it’s safe again. Any ideas to pass the time?”

Root tried to wink again. Shaw covered her instinct to laugh by rolling her eyes.

“In your dreams.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying Sameen.”

The monitor chose that moment to return to life.

_The threat to my location has ended. It appears the program attempting to locate this location has been compromised. Several servers running that program have been destroyed beyond repair. The identities of those responsible for developing and activating this program have been identified and targeted by several government agencies._

Root smiled and looked up at Shaw.

“They’ll be too busy running for a while, won’t be able to try hacking her again. I would let the big quiet lug know, since the real target would unquestionably be Harry. These assholes would never be satisfied with destroying her, they’d want Harry to make a clone of her for them, then they’d want to eliminate all possible allies.

“We don’t know if any information about this machine’s creator, or for that matter, her assets, has been compromised. After notifying your friend, you should make sure the building’s secure- Harry will be back once the procedure is finished.”

Shaw nodded and disappeared. She called John on her way down the stairs, checked all the doors and windows and canvassed the building looking for possible signs of entry and weaknesses in building security.

Once she had finished securing the building, she headed back up to the second floor and halfway up the stairs stopped dead in her tracks.

_Oh Shit! I forgot about Root. Left her alone in Finch’s office… dummy! What am I going to tell him and Reese when they get back? Oh shit, oh shit… oh shit!_

Shaw continued up the stairs, now walking like the condemned woman heading toward her execution. When she arrived, she noticed the office was empty…. no Root. Also, the workstations had both gone into sleep mode.

_Gone- I shouldn’t be surprised. God, how did I get so distracted to forget all the basics? Sure, she’s hot, but I let her totally mind-fuck me and now she’s gone. Damn._

Shaw wandered back toward the room where Root had spent the last few weeks, still mentally kicking herself for her failure. As she entered, she stopped dead a second time.

Root was sitting in the cage, munching on a red apple. The metal door stood wide open.

“What the hell, Root? Why are you still here? Why didn’t you escape?”

Root looked over at Shaw and smiled. The smile was genuine, but there was a hint of a leer there as well.

“Then I wouldn’t get to see you, Sweetie.”

Shaw rolled her eyes.

“Bullshit.”

Root’s expression changed slightly, the smile disappearing along with the leer. She looked as close to honest as Shaw had ever seen.

“Look, I’ve spent the last eight months looking for an Artificial Intelligence that several of us suspected was out there. The signs have been there over a year now.. but it’s like an invisible force. I couldn’t get close to it without any trail I had drying up completely after a few days.

“I figured I’d try one last ditch effort to get introduced by contacting it’s agents. That’s why Gen and I went to see Dr. Lucille and that’s why I allowed your buddy John to get the drop on me. Now that I’ve made contact, I’m hoping I can get to know her better.”

Shaw shook her head.

“Not going to happen…. trust issues.”

“That’s why I chose to take the first step.. and why I stayed rather than escape. I hoped that by taking that first step, you and your team would see I might be more value to you as a partner than as an enemy.”

Shaw shook her head again. She closed the door and locked it.

“When Finch returns, I’ll discuss it with him and let him decide what to do with you.”

“I already proved I’m not going anywhere. You could join me for a few minutes- I think we could be good together.”

Shaw, as she reached the hall, turned back briefly.

“As I said before, in your dreams… Look, Root, you’’re hot- no question about it. But, based on what little I’ve seen, well the two of us would be like a four alarm fire in an oil refinery- dangerous to ourselves and everyone around us.

“So I’ll let Finch know what you did, and what you want and let him decide. And until he decides, you’re staying in there- alone.”

“Until, Sameen? Does that mean maybe someday?”

Root looked at her with the smirk returning but before it was fully formed, Shaw saw something in her eyes that made her whole body tingle. The words came almost unbidden and were out before she could process them.

“Yeah Root, maybe someday.”

….

After the attack on the Machine, Finch began talking to Root regularly- first at the cage, then inside and finally at Harold’s workstation. His concerns about Root gradually faded as she showed some sincerity by helping him with a few sticky problems coding defenses for the Machine.

The pair had agreed that this attack was certainly not the last and a more robust defense network was needed to keep any future attackers from succeeding. Finch had also argued that Root might make a powerful asset as long as she wasn’t going to cause the team any more trouble.

The question of what to do with Root had split the group for a time. Shaw was neutral, leaning toward giving Finch the final say. Reese was totally opposed, as was Fusco. When Shaw and Finch explained the significance of the attack on the Machine, Root’s actions and what could have happened if she hadn’t intervened, they were only partially swayed.

However, when Shaw admitted leaving Root alone and unsupervised in Finch's office and explained how she could have escaped but instead went back to the cell, the tide turned in Root's favor. The team as a whole agreed to give her some trial action to see if she could be both trusted and counted on.

Finch was holding off until the right situation presented itself. As Shaw climbed the stairs to Finch's office that morning, she reflected on the time since Root decided not to escape. The days had been filled with action sometimes sending Reese and herself after multiple numbers in a matter of hours.

Today Reese was off in Western Pennsylvania checking on a number in the Pittsburgh area. Shaw hoped she'd be flying solo on this one since she almost throttled Fusco last time they were paired. Lionel was competent in fact he was a pretty good detective (not that Shaw would ever let him hear that); but he was genetically incapable of shutting up for longer than five minutes before indulging in some trivial bullshit.

So when Shaw walked into Finch's office and found only Root seated at the other workstation, she breathed a sigh of relief. _No Fusco- I won't have to listen to his crap and I won't have to make polite conversation._ Her relief was short-lived.

"Who's our number Finch? I'm set."

"Ms. Shaw, our number is a complicated situation. A woman had her baby kidnapped at the airport. She apparently turned her back for a second, thought she could trust the man who said he’d watch her and when she turned back the man and her baby were gone.

“They locked down the airport, however the man escaped. There’s been no ransom demand, no report of a baby left at a hospital, no body- the infant seems to have vanished.

“At least that’s what the police believe. The truth is somewhat more interesting. We have looked at all the security feeds throughout the airport and we believe we know what happened to the baby.

“Watch what Ms. Farrow found and put together in the last two hours.”

Shaw walked over to the monitor Root was sitting at. Root leered up at her and winked. Before she could even react, the leer was gone and replaced by an expression of professional confidence.

“You’ll notice that the man hands the infant off within five seconds of the woman turning her back. Another female, wearing a hoodie and sweat pants receives the baby then travels less than fifty feet when she hands her off, it’s to an airline employee wearing a company baseball cap pulled down over his features.

“Now he disappears into an employees only entrance where he heads down to where the baggage is loaded into the cargo area of the planes. Another hand off is made to a woman wearing the uniform of a totally different airline in a different terminal. She climbs into a baggage tractor driven by the first man, and heads to that airlines terminal where she enters the concourse from below.

“The woman then enters the ladies restroom at the east end of the concourse. Now’s when it gets interesting. The woman is followed less than five minutes later by….”

Root indicated the monitor. Shaw squinted at the screen.

“Shit! She’s got a baby too.”

“Exactly, now watch what happens in the next five minutes.”

The woman who went in second exits the restroom and heads back to her seat to await her flight. The airline employee exits a few minutes later _without the baby._ Shaw rocked back.

“What the hell?”

Root slid the mouse and the image on the screen changed. It showed a humanoid infant figure that on close inspection could be seen to be a doll, not a living child.

“These dolls are lifelike, so lifelike they’ve been known to fool people who should know better. This one was discovered in the trash of that restroom. The first woman had a doll, not an infant and she could easily switch without being noticed and make her escape to Reagan in DC, where her flight was headed.

“We managed to put a tracker on the woman when she exited the plane. Whoever planned this figured they should have at least a couple of days before anyone put it together. By then, they would have made their escape. But they didn’t count on her”

Harold took over the narrative at this point. Shaw turned toward him, acutely aware of the scent of Root leaving her nostrils. Not that she cared.

“It appears to be more than a simple kidnapping for ransom- this looks like a case of someone wanting to steal a child with the intention of keeping it. What’s remarkable is the lengths they went to cover their tracks. We’ve discovered three of the four involved in getting the infant to the woman who left on the plane for DC.”

Shaw raised her hands in inquiry.

“Well?”

“They are all dead. The first man was involved in a traffic accident three miles from the airport. His car went off an overpass and exploded. We have the coroner looking at whether he was alive or dead when the car went off the overpass.

“The woman who got the infant second is unaccounted for, but she may have changed clothes before leaving the airport. The Machine theorized she either went with the first man or possibly is one of the ringleaders. The two who transported the baby in the baggage tractor were found in one of the employee break rooms in an isolated part of the airport _both had overdosed on heroin._

“We may never find the woman, but the Machine is working every possibility. You will head for DC to retrieve the infant and attempt to discover the motive for the kidnapping. You’re both booked on the 4:00 flight to Reagan where you’ll pick up a rental and trail the woman, hopefully before she hands off the infant and we lose her.”

“Wait a minute Finch, you said _both?_ ”

“Ms. Farrow is going to accompany you, she can be of value if you need to immediately hack any security cameras in your pursuit.”

“Bullshit, Finch, no way! I’m not taking an untested rookie with me on this. She’s yet to prove herself, her skills are an unknown and I’m not sure I can work with her. I can handle this on my own.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Ms. Shaw, but I must insist. Ms. Farrow is the one who cracked this with the Machine’s help and the Machine suggested she go. I might not have promoted the idea but I certainly won’t argue with its recommendation.”

Shaw slammed her hand on the table, turned and headed out of the office.

“Fine, but I’m not going to be the one responsible for her fuckups, she better realize I won’t make any exceptions for her nor will I slow down so she can keep up.”

She glared at Root while saying the last sentence. The look she got in return confirmed one of the issues she knew she would be dealing with. Root was looking at her with that same flirtatious smirk Shaw had seen so many times in the past few weeks. Root opened her mouth and for once Shaw beat her to the punch.

“Don’t!”

Shaw pointed directly at her and walked out.

….

“Ladies and gentleman, please stow your large electronic devices, stow your trays in the seat back and return your seats to the upright position. We will be landing in DC shortly, the weather is….. “

Shaw looked over at Root who’d been on her best behavior the entire flight. When the two entered the plane, Root had taken the window seat, opened her laptop and began coding. She put the laptop away when the plane began to push from the gate and pulled on a pair of headphones, which stayed in place the entire flight.

Shaw was surprised but pleased that she could spend the entire flight planning for the mission ahead. When the plane arrived at the gate and the two exited the aircraft, Root slid up against Shaw as they walked up the jetway.

“Our first trip together, Sameeen. I feel like it’s our first date.”

She was so close their hips brushed against each other as they walked up the inclined path. Shaw hip checked her over and glared at her.

“I liked you better on the plane.”

Root smirked flirtatiously at her.

“Sweetie, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable in a place where you couldn’t escape if you had to. I know you like to pretend my behavior bothers you, but I also know you really enjoy it. So I figure I can be respectful when you’re trapped and this way when you can walk away. Sooner or later you’re going to figure out we’re perfect for each other.

“It’s just a matter of time.”

Shaw rolled her eyes and stalked away.

….

“The tracker and the Machine say she’s in there. What we’re not positive of is whether or not the baby is still with her. Until they leave the warehouse and either expose themselves to us or to one of the Machine’s eyes we’re blind.”

Root looked up from her laptop and nodded at the warehouse. The two had followed the tracker to this location, arriving fifteen minutes ago. Root accessed what information the Machine had, which was that the same woman seen taking the baby on the plane had arrived by taxi several hours earlier, entered the warehouse and remained inside.

While there were no cameras inside, the Machine’s access to the building schematics and maps of underground sewer systems surrounding the warehouse led them to believe she was still inside. The questions were what else was inside and what was happening to the infant while they waited.

Shaw slapped the steering wheel of the rental.

“I don’t do patience Root. Besides, if they decide to kill the kid, we might be too late if we sit out here doing nothing. I say we go in, and damn the danger.”

“The Machine says there’s only a 52.8% chance of everyone getting out alive if we go in now. We could have Harry call in reinforcements by calling the Virginia State Patrol. Or we could call in the FBI. It will be another 36 hours before they figure out what’s going on, and we might compromise the Machine if we do call the authorities.

“She’s left it up to us. You’re the one in charge of this, Sameen, and quite frankly I’m surprised that you haven’t gone in already. It’s almost as if you trust me and value my input.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I do, however, value the Machine’s input and while I wish she would be a little less aggravating, 53% seems acceptable risk to me.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Shaw looked sharply at the hacker.

“Why are you so agreeable. Harold is much less of a risk taker. What gives?”

“I trust you, Sam, and I think your instincts are going to most likely lead us in the right direction, Plus, I think you’re badass enough to keep us safe. But if we go in there, can I at least have a gun?”

“What makes you think I’d trust you with a gun? You might be more likely to shoot me or yourself rather than the bad guys.”

“I was more than a hacker before you guys locked me in that cage, Shaw. I know my way around a gun. Just because I prefer a taser doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I can handle.”

Shaw hesitated, the conflict in her mind apparent. Finally, she sighed.

“Fine, but don’t make me regret this.”

She handed over one of her .45s. Root accepted it, pocketed it and stuck her hand back out.

“I saw that you brought at least a half a dozen guns in our checked baggage, can I have another?”

“Two guns, that’s kind of lame.”

But she held out another .45.

“Thanks, Sameen, let’s go see who’s waiting.”

….

They slipped in a side door knowing full well there could be an ambush waiting. Surprisingly, the same blackout that kept the Machine from knowing exactly what was going on inside the warehouse protected them from discovery. As they crept through the darkness, Root continued to follow literally in Shaw’s footsteps.

“Look Root, I’m trained at this- you stay a few feet behind me and walk _exactly_ where I walk. That way you won’t get us into any trouble by tripping over something or putting your weight on the wrong loose board.”

Root nodded and carefully traced Shaw’s movements, concentrating in the darkness. Whether it was the dark, quiet atmosphere or the exhilaration from the entire operation, Root’s senses were on high alert. She felt, rather than saw or heard the movement to her right and raced forward shoving Shaw out of the way as a shot rang out.

Root felt a brief stinging sensation in her left side as the lights in the warehouse suddenly flashed into life. Root continued forward following Shaw around a stack of crates as shots cracked around them. Shaw looked at Root and nodded.

“Thanks. We need to get better cover.”

Shaw stuck her head around the crate and ducked back. Two shots rang out, too late.

“Fifteen feet ahead and slightly left is another pile of crates, there’s a doorway just beyond it. I think that’s where we’ll find the woman and baby. They seem to be trying to discourage us from heading in that direction. I’ll draw their fire and you head for the hallway.”

Root disagreed.

“Too risky, we can take them out by both heading for it. Then when they try to stop us we’ll just take them all out.”

Shaw shook her head.

“It might be doable, but we’re supposed to shoot for kneecaps- no kill shots unless absolutely necessary.”

Root held up her hand.

“I think this will even the odds a little.”

“Where the hell did you get a grenade?”

“When you were packing guns I slipped a few into my bag. This one should be all we need, but I have three more if needed.”

“Ok, nerd, you’re impressing me, I must admit.”

“I’ll throw the grenade, we wait until it blows and head to the hallway. The goons will probably blindly follow and we can get our quota of kneecaps.”

Shaw grinned, then nodded. Root pulled the pin, waited two or three long seconds and threw it at the most concentrated gunfire. The explosion was almost immediate. The women raced to the hallway while the smoke and flash dissipated. They stood in the doorway as four men, then two more appeared out of the smoke, still disorientated.

Shaw took the two on the left first, they were closest to the hallway and provided the greatest threat. As she turned her attention to the four remaining, she was surprised to hear shot after shot ring out at her left. Six shots later she looked over at Root who was firing both guns simultaneously with uncanny accuracy.

Two more shots rang out and the last of the four hit the ground, all four bleeding profusely from both kneecaps. Eight shots, eight hits, less than five seconds. Shaw looked over at her companion and felt her skin tingle.

“OK, that was kind of hot.”

Root smiled and tilted her head down the hallway.

“Shall we?”

At the end of the hall was a door with light creeping under the bottom. Shaw glanced at Root and indicated she’d go left and Root was to go right. When Root nodded, Shaw kicked the door in. They both rolled into the room guns ready but holding their fire. Two women sat in the room, unarmed with the baby in a crib between them.

As the pair watched, Root and Shaw approached them. Shaw nodded at Root, who checked the women for weapons. Satisfied, both put their guns away, then reacquired them as a door in the back of the room opened. A forty-something man in an impeccably tailored suit stepped into the room, hands raised.

“I’m unarmed but there are more than two dozen of my soldiers approaching this warehouse. If you don’t surrender immediately they’ll storm this place and you won’t survive. You two are good, that much is obvious, but the sheer numbers will overwhelm you.”

Root suddenly looked down, then withdrew her phone. Staring at it for a few seconds, she smiled and looked over.

“Daniel Hernandez, heir to the Ortiz cartel operating in Central America and southern Mexico. You orchestrated this kidnapping because your wife is unable to have children. With her blessing, you whored around until you found a woman you could get pregnant, then after she delivered, you would simply take the child.

“I’m guessing you planned on the woman having an ‘accident’ in the very near future. What you didn’t count on was getting caught before you could slip out of the country with your wife and this baby back to your estate in Cartagena. You can try to take us out, but understand, you’ll die first and the reinforcements will run into trouble from the five SWAT teams on their way.

“Here, see for yourself.”

Root tossed him her phone. On it was a map showing the approach of several blue blips converging on the warehouse.

“Maybe you’re right and they’ll take us out before the teams arrive. But you’ll be dead, these two accomplices, who by the way I know are your sisters, will be dead, and there’s a good chance the baby will be dead.

“You could, if you choose, decide to have your troops stand down, let us have the baby and all of you get to go back under the Central American rock you crawled out from under. Then maybe you can just find a woman who would act as surrogate instead of trying to prove your manhood to your wife and yourself with a harebrained scheme like this.”

Shaw had stared at Root during her entire statement. As Root stopped, she decided to pick up on the thread Root had woven into a tapestry of imagination.

“The first bullet will take you in the balls, Daniel, then I’ll put one in your gut. Your sisters will each get gut shot as well, since they were willing accomplices to your stupidity. We’ll get the pleasure of watching you bleed out in agony while we defend this room.

“How this ends is up to you.”

Root took the opportunity to fire a shot into the woman on the left’s knee. As she collapsed in agony, Root smiled over at Hernandez.

“Just wanted you to know we are serious. Don’t worry, we’ll take her as insurance and drop her at a hospital for treatment. Unless of course you want to end your bloodline here and now.”

As Shaw raised her gun and leveled it at Hernandez’s groin, he held up his hands, his face a mixture of rage and resignation.

“Putas! I will remember you and I will get you. Somehow, someday- I will slit your throats and drink your blood. Go! Take them and get out of here. But remember, someday….”

Hernandez picked up a cell phone and made a call. He spoke briefly and disconnected. Hatred blazed from his eyes as he waved them toward the exit.

“My men will let you leave… for now.”

Root walked over and retrieved her phone. She looked down at it for several seconds then smiled up at Shaw.

“She says it’s clear. They’ve held about three blocks south of here and she said he told them to let us go.”

Shaw walked over to the wounded woman, dragged her to her feet and led her through the doorway. Root picked up the infant with one arm and held her gun on Hernandez with the other. As she left the room, she gave the man one last nugget.

“The same source of the information on you also gave me enough to know we could cripple your organization if you do decide to try to carry out your threat. If you don’t believe me, there is a package waiting for you at your estate. It’s being delivered to your wife as we speak. There’s a DVD in it with some information you’ll find interesting… and damning.

“Remember, it could have been a bomb just as easily. So be very careful and consider if your ego is worth losing everything for.”

Root and Shaw slipped out of the warehouse with the woman and baby, got in their rental car and headed back to DC. On their way, they dropped the woman at a firehouse with a brief note directing the crew on duty to take her to the nearest ER.

As they returned to the car, Shaw asked the question that had been bothering her since the encounter with Hernandez back in the warehouse.

“Where did the SWAT teams come from?”

Root grinned up at her.

“She understands poker.”

Shaw blanched.

“It was a bluff?”

Root just shrugged and raised her eyebrows. They continued into downtown Washington where they met up with a Washington Metro police detective who the Machine had decided could be a trusted asset in the future.

The detective promised to deliver the baby to Fusco at a mutually agreed on meeting place about halfway between the two cities. As the two returned to their vehicle, Root looked over at Shaw and smiled faintly.

“Sameen, I think I need to get this looked at before I fly back to New York.”

She raised her jacket to reveal a red stain that had slowly spread over her entire left abdomen. Shaw raced over and pulled her shirt up to inspect the wound.

“Root, what the hell? We should’ve taken care of this before we dropped the bitch off, before we met the detective. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I knew it wasn’t life threatening. I knew the bullet just grazed me and that it could be cleaned up without much risk or fuss. Besides, I didn’t want to slow us down the first time I got to go out in the field.”

Shaw shook her head.

“Idiot.”

But she smiled and gently probed the wound.

“I can clean and disinfect this in less than an hour. It might need stitches, but I don’t have an anesthetic to dull the pain so maybe we should wait until we get back to the library where I have proper medical supplies. You should be able to make it back there once I clean you up and get you a new shirt.”

Root smiled affectionately at her.

“I love it when you play doctor.”

….

Twelve hours later, the two were back at the library where Shaw was putting the finishing touches on the four stitches in Root’s abdomen. Her touch surprised and warmed Root who hummed happily as Shaw worked on her. Shaw shook her head in amazement at Root’s ability to turn a medical procedure into an erotic experience.

It was also getting to her. Finished, she put the supplies away and went to grab her coat. She looked over at Root who gazed at Shaw with a mixture of affection and, undeniably, lust. Shaw debated briefly with herself and turned to the hacker.

“Look, Finch has a safe house less than fifteen minutes from here. I’ll take you there and you can stay until we find you more permanent quarters. It’s way more comfortable than that cell and you certainly earned your freedom… and our trust.”

Root smiled.

“Sameen, you say the sweetest things. Will you stay with me? I might be scared all alone in a strange place.”

Root’s eyes sparkled with humor and desire. Shaw felt her neck tingle as the flush spread up toward her cheeks. She gently took Root’s hand and led them to the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't totally satisfied with this, but this is where it apparently wanted to go. I would like to hear input on whether it worked or not. Remember, comments are fuel to a writer's creativity. Thanks for reading.


	3. Completely Baked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shoot First is a series of one shots. This one has rattled around in my head for awhile. What if they had a number in Colorado and stopped after to sample some of the organic vegetation that was recently legalized. It is written as a stand alone but the other chapters may provide background to the story.

Shaw stood over the creep, who couldn't decide whether to grab his damaged knee or cradle his damaged hand. Her expression bordered on amused as she retrieved the gun which had sailed several feet from the hand she had shot it from. Slipping it into her waistband, she leaned down to address the scumbag.

“We have a problem here Franklin. Judith here doesn't want you to bother her any more. In fact, she's gotten a restraining order against you and you still haven't gotten the message. So the decision is yours- leave her alone and you'll do some time, then get on with your pathetic life or…”

She nodded at Root, who approached with a knife loosely held in her hand.

“My friend here will do her best to persuade you.”

Root was wearing her completely psychotic look, wide eyed and smiling coldly. She tightened her grip on the knife, bent down and rested the point on Franklin’s groin. She leaned forward just enough for Franklin’s eyes to squeeze shut in pain. He moaned, then gagged as Root added some pressure.

“Your biggest problem could just be that I really enjoy this sort of thing. You see Franklin, you forfeited your man- _card_ when you first beat Judith up. I will just be completing the process by confiscating your man _hood_. But… that's for you to decide.”

She added just a bit more pressure. The response was immediate- and near hysterical.

“God nooo…. Stop, please stop. I won't go near her- I'll move away. Please don't hurt me!”

“So you'll play nice from now on? No more bothering her? No stalking, no contact?”

Root held the knife above Franklin’s head.

“Please call the cops, please have them come and arrest me…. Please.”

Shaw walked over to Franklin's target.

“Let's get you out of here.”

Judith had been standing frozen since the man had first approached her. Now she looked at Shaw, then over at Root and finally at her attacker. Her eyes widened slightly as they passed over the tall hacker but she regarded Franklin with the expression a refined lady might give a large insect crossing her perfectly set dinner table.

Finally she nodded and followed the two women to their rental. Two hours later they dropped Judith off at DIA for the 4:00PM flight to New York. Reese would be waiting with everything she would need to get away and get a fresh start. In the future, any searches for the relocated woman would be noted by the Machine. Analysis would determine any threat level and action required.

Root looked over at Shaw as the woman disappeared into the terminal.

“Sweetie, we’ve got two days before we have to head back. Finch said he’d only call in an emergency. Why don’t we stay here and explore the mountains. I’ve travelled most of the world on various jobs, but this is my first time in Colorado. I’d like to see some places, what do you think?”

Shaw rolled her eyes. _We should get on a plane and head back ourselves. I should get back and figure out how to distance myself from this creepy psycho. Finch should mind his own business and not play matchmaker- who gets two days off?_

She looked over at the tall hacker. _Damn, those legs, they go on forever. And her neck…. and…. shit, it’s only two days. What can go wrong?_

“Sure, nerd, let’s go see the sights.”

….

“Pull over here Sam, there's a rest stop with a photo op. Let's check it out.”

Shaw rolled her eyes but slowed and turned in. The lot, small with only five parking spots was deserted. The two ladies climbed from their Yukon and headed towards the man-made steps that led up easily 100 feet. Root suddenly stopped and turned back.

“Forgot something- be right back.”

She opened the back door and pulled out her backpack. She rummaged around in it until she removed a multi-colored gift bag about eight inches across and twelve inches high. She stuck the bag inside her leather jacket and headed back. Shaw's curiosity got the best of her.

“What's in the bag Root?”

“Patience Sameen, wait until we get to see top.”

“Root, tell me it's not a toy- please.”

“That's a good guess Sweetie but this is even better.”

Shaw's eyes rolled as her mind raced. _What the hell?_

The pair walked up the steps reaching the top in a few short minutes.

Shaw grabbed Root’s arm before she could walk away.

“Give.” She held out her hand.

This time the hacker was the one rolling her eyes. She reached in her jacket and handed over the bag. Shaw opened it, reached in, and pulled a quart sized zip-lock bag out. Shaw stared at the bag and its contents, then looked back inside the bag which wasn’t quite empty.

“Geez Root, you bought a bong, too? Where the hell did you get this?”

“When you went in that sporting goods store because we might run out of ammo, I knew you’d be in there at least an hour, which you were. I said I’d stay out in the car, but I noticed a place three doors down. It was _House of Hemp_ and I had never been in a dispensary so I thought I’d check it out. I figured we could try it since it’s legal here.

“I’ve always been too afraid to do this alone and you’re the only person I trust enough to … well, you're the only one I trust enough. So I figured it was now or never. Come on Sameen, let’s try it.”

Shaw stared at her, mouth open.

“You’ve never smoked before? Really?”

Root blushed and stared at the ground. She wouldn’t bring her eyes up to meet Shaw’s.

“I’m not very experienced in a lot of things, Sam. I guess the way I grew up, the only friend I had was Hannah. When she died I spent the rest of my teen years avoiding people. From my experience they could only do one of two things, hurt me or abandon me.

“Hacking came easily to me, I loved the design, the symmetry in the code. There was no betrayal, no hurt, just perfection in the lines. People were generally bad code and the few that weren’t were usually taken advantage of by those who were. So I buried myself in hacking. It was a solo sport, one I could lose myself in without worrying about what others felt, said or did.

“I felt that way until I met you and the rest of the team. Even then, I was slow to let my guard down around any of you until I saw you accepted me for who I am.”

Shaw interrupted.

“Hold it, Root, you’ve been flirting and coming on to me since I got tased in the doctor’s office.”

“Yes, but while I was attracted to you from the start, I flirted as much to keep you off balance as anything. I didn’t have any problem keeping the others at arm’s length- they’re guys. In case you haven’t noticed, I prefer girls…”

Root winked, giving Shaw that weird sensation in the pit of her stomach. _Easily the lamest wink I’ve ever seen- why does it always get to me?_ Then Root continued.

“When you started showing signs of trusting me, it rocked my world. I figured the best case scenario possible was eventually you all would let me in on the fringes so I’d be trying to discover the secrets she was keeping in spite of you all. Being brought in as an equal, even if it took some time, well that was never a scenario I could have envisioned.

“You changed me, showed me that the world isn’t only bad code and their prey. I discovered people can be strong without taking advantage of anyone weaker than them. You guys showed me that, and showed me that I could have friends and be a friend.

“Friends do things together- sometimes new things. And I want to try smoking pot Sam… and I want you to do it with me.”

Shaw looked toward the mountains off in the south and west. It appeared she was considering Root’s request, when in reality she was stalling to regain her composure. She had been moved by Root’s confession, and the feelings it stirred in her were something she wasn’t used to and needed a moment to process.

After a minute or so, she turned to the hacker and shook her head.

“I suppose it someone needs to be here to see you don’t get all crazy it should be me. Let’s go over there by the bench- it’s got a great view and we can spark over there.”

“Ooh, Sam, I love it when you talk stoner.”

Shaw rolled her eyes.

“Nerd.”

They sat at the bench and Shaw took the bong, a nice Helix Beaker Bong, about 9 inches tall. Nodding her approval, Shaw then held the ziplock bag up and squeezed it, checking for consistency and sticks.

“Looks pretty nice, do you remember what it’s called?”

Root reached into the pocket of her skinny jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Shaw, who took it, unfolded it and began to read. Seconds later she looked over.

“ _Flo_ , huh? I’ve heard of it- it’s supposed to be good, one of the most popular here. Nice choice.”

She looked inside the bag again and brought out a one liter bottle of water. She held it up and studied the label. Shaking her head, she raised her eyebrows.

“For future reference, water is water in a bong or a bubbler. $9.95 for a bottle of water, even with a nice label seems a little much.”

Root’s pout made Shaw smile as she opened the bottle, used a little to rinse off the mouthpiece and poured several inches in the beaker shaped bong. She set the bong between them, opened the ziplock bag and reached in.

Root studied her as she removed a small amount of the herb and carefully packed it in the bowl. Satisfied, Shaw looked at Root.

“Lighter?”

Root smiled, reached in her jacket pocket and removed a lighter still in its package. Shaw took it and after looking it over laughed.

“$14.95 for a Bic with 420 on it is a little expensive. Next time buy water and lighters at Costco and spend the extra on more weed.”

Root reddened slightly as she nodded her head. Shaw’s smile took the sting out and she held the bong up for Root to see.

“The weed goes in the bowl, when we hit it, the smoke goes into the down-tube where it gets filtered by the water, removing much of the harshness of the smoke. You make a good seal with your mouth on the mouthpiece and take short puffs until the smoke is gone or your lungs won’t take any more. Like this.”

Shaw hit the bong for almost 30 seconds. She then looked up at Root, holding her breath. After a few seconds, she turned her head away and stared out at the mountains. Then slowly released the smoke from her lungs.

“Not bad…. are you ready?”

Root’s face had taken on a hint of anxiety. Shaw put her hand on Root’s thigh reassuringly.

“Look, it doesn’t feel bad, it’s like the buzz you get when you’ve had a few drinks but aren’t sloppy drunk yet. Just relax. I’ll hold the lighter, you just concentrate on short puffs as long as you can. Don’t take too much the first time, you don’t want to choke and cough it all back out.”

Root nodded and leaned down. Shaw held the lighter over the bowl. After ten seconds or so Root’s head came shooting up. Her eyes were wide and Shaw could see she was struggling not to cough.

“Relax, if you have to cough it’s OK. We’ve got plenty to practice with.”

Root dissolved into a fit of hacking. After a few seconds, she smiled and looked at Shaw.

“I’ll try again Sam.”

This time she made it for 20 seconds and slowly came away from the mouthpiece. Smiling, she held it as long as she could, which turned out to be a pretty impressive length of time.

“Slowly exhale Root, the best way is to let it out through your nose. You're doing fine.”

Root immediately began emptying her lungs. She exhaled as slowly as she could but just before finishing, she started coughing again. She looked at Shaw, blushing. Sam smiled and once again placed a hand on Root’s thigh.

“Relax, you're getting it…. Hey, this is pretty good stuff. I'm starting to feel it…. Hmmm.”

Root sat frozen- not feeling the effects of the pot nearly as much as the effects of Sameen’s hand on her thigh _which was still there and was currently doing interesting things to Root’s physiology._ As the hacker tried to sit as still as possible, prolonging the contact, she began to feel a second tingling feeling begin in her core and start radiating out toward her extremities.

Suddenly the hand was gone, but the tingling continued as the hacker felt a jolt shake the bench. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she realized Shaw was now standing on the bench. Root was struck by three things: Shaw looked _hot_ up there, the incredibly fast, almost magical way she levitated to standing on the bench and three…. _Shaw looked HOT up there….wait am I getting distracted by how hot she….?_

Shaw’s hand shot out in front of her, index finger extended.

“Mountains! Shit Root, there are mountains out there.”

Root smiled, wondering how Shaw could possibly be any cuter.. then realized Shaw had handed her the bong. _How did that happen?_ Root considered the bong for a moment, then put the lighter to the bowl once more. Trying to remember what Shaw had taught her she hit then stopped, hit then stopped, then hit then stopped until she began to see black spots in front of her eyes.

She felt light-headed and set the bong down next to her. As the spots continued to swim in front of her eyes, she began to feel light headed. _I forgot what I was supposed to do… what do I do? Ohhhh….._

Shaw was reaching down and shaking her shoulder.

“Root, you’ve got to breathe, let the smoke out and breathe… that’s better. Wow, you looked like you were going to pass out there for a minute.”

Shaw was staring at the hacker. She felt her face redden. _Shit, her legs go on forever… really looks hot in those skinny jeans… I wonder what she’d look like out of them… she’s so hot…_

“Sam, I can hear you thinking… either that or you’re saying stuff I never thought I’d hear you say. But I think you’re hot too. Maybe we ought to take this party inside somewhere.”

Shaw reddened as she realized she had said out loud what she was thinking inside. _I can’t believe I said that. I’ve got to watch what I say or she’ll find out that I’m starting to feel…. something… and I don’t know what to do about it._

“I can still hear you Sam. Let’s head back toward Cripple Creek- there’s a hotel there we can get a room for the night. It’s only a few miles back the way we came.”

Shaw’s face reflected her embarrassment but, after a short, _internal_ debate, decided to roll with it. _What the hell._

“I’m driving. Let’s go.”

They walked back down to the car and climbed in. Shaw started the car, backed out of the parking space and started back down the mountain. She turned left, went about 50 feet and turned left again. She slowed the car, then stopped, looking around in confusion.

“Another rest stop already? How did this happen?”

“I think you just turned back into the one we just left, Sam.”

Shaw looked around again, smiled and dissolved into laughter.

“Thank God, I thought it was deja vu all over again.”

Shaw snickered some more then settled down and drove out again. This time she stayed on the highway for quite awhile before Root looked over at her.

“Sam, did you take a wrong turn? It’s been 20 minutes and we still aren’t there. I swear we were less than ten minutes away.”

“Probably just that I slowed down a little, I didn’t want to take any chances since I might be a little high.”

“Oh, well how fast are you going?”

Shaw looked down, shook her head and looked over at Root, eyes wide.

“Root! I’m going 100!”

Root leaned over, stared at the instruments for a moment, then laughed.

“Sam, it’s a digital speedometer- you’re not doing 100, you’re doing 10.0!”

“Well, it still feels too fast, what are we going to do?”

Root squinted into the distance. She looked at the ex-agent.

“Keep going, the sign says we’re at the city limits. Even at ten miles an hour we should be near the hotel in a few minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later, Shaw pulled into a lot and parked the rental. The two climbed out, grabbed their bags from the trunk, and headed for the entrance around the corner. As they turned the corner, Root stopped dead, mouth open. The hotel was across the street from a casino.

“Wow… Sam…. Wow! Look at all the lights! I’ve never…”

Shaw reached over and gently closed Root’s mouth.

“Stop Root, you look like a rube who’s never been in the big city before. Here, put these sunglasses on- you won’t be so distracted by the lights. I’ll help you out.”

Shaw stood in front of her and placed the glasses on her face. She noticed Root’s eyes staring into hers- so many emotions leaking out. She hesitated as Root’s tongue peaked out of her mouth and slowly traveled around her lips. Shaw was mesmerized.

“See something you like Sameen?”

Shaw clamped her mouth shut as she thought _whenever she says my name like that, it sends shivers through me. I want to kiss her._

Root reached around behind Shaw’s neck and pulled her close. As her lips closed the distance she paused.

“Sometimes your eyes say more than your mouth, Sam.”

Their lips met and while it wasn’t the first time it still felt completely new. Shaw savored the taste, the feel… everything. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there before Root broke the kiss.

“We’ve got a room under the name Thornhill. We probably should go check in before we do something to get ourselves arrested.”

Shaw nodded, and they headed toward the entrance. Suddenly she stopped, grabbed Root’s arm and turned them in to each other.

“Root, we’ve got half a bag of bud- and you can’t smoke in hotel rooms anymore. What are we going to do?”

Root’s eyes widened, then she looked down at her phone sticking out of her front pocket. She pulled it out and stared at the screen. She looked back up at Shaw with a smile.

“The room has a balcony- we can smoke outside on it.”

“OK then, let’s go.”

Root reached for the door but stopped before opening it. Shaw tilted her head, questions in her eyes. Root smiled at the ex-agent, then let her smile turn into a leer.

“I was just thinking- we have two days, a hotel room and _only_ the remainder of the pot. We’ll have to come up with other ways to entertain ourselves.”

Shaw just shook her head and walked into the lobby. She thought _I can think of a few things._

“I can hear you again, Sam.”

_Shit!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept going over this and changing bits and pieces, finally gave up and this is result. Please comment- it keeps me thinking about ways to continue this.


	4. I Waited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feeling Angsty, this starts with some angst, then degenerates into sappy fluff. Not super happy but this is where this one wanted to go. The idea is that each chapter is a stand alone, you don't need to read the preceding ones to get it but all stories are part of the same basic AU. No Samaritan, just relevant and irrelevant numbers and Team Machine. Shoot centric because I love them and I can. This is excessively long, it should have been three chapters, but then it wouldn't be a stand alone. Sorry.

“Anybody home?”

Shaw poked her head into the apartment and glanced around. The lights were on, music was coming from the sound bar in the kitchen but there was no answer. Concerned, she stepped carefully through the apartment towards the bedroom, its door closed. Shaw could make out muffled noises coming from behind the door. Raising her fist, she slammed it into the wood.

“Root! You OK?”

No answer. The sounds had stopped. As Shaw reached for the handle, the door swung open, revealing a very disheveled ex-hacker. The long-legged brunette’s eyes were a mix of embarrassment and amusement as she peered out through the tangled hair cascading around her face.

_She looks hot._

Shaw glanced down at the white dress shirt casually thrown on to cover her nakedness and knew she had just interrupted something. Her face, impassive as always, gave nothing away as to what was going on in her mind.

Root gazed into the ex-government assassin’s eyes, smirked and raised her eyebrows.

“Many might consider this awkward, Sameen…. I find it exciting.”

Shaw rolled her eyes and shook her head. Whatever she might be feeling had been pushed back, way back inside. She held up her phone.

“We have a number.”

Root looked at her, confusion crossing her face.

“She didn't say anything to me about a number.”

Shaw held up the phone, the text message clear.

_Relevant number, Analog Interface needs back-up. Meet at her apartment_.

Root stared at it for almost thirty seconds. Shrugging, she opened the door and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. The shirt, unbuttoned, flashed Shaw glimpses of alabaster skin as the tall brunette beauty walked unabashed into the kitchen and grabbed her purse.

Removing her phone, she unlocked the screen and glanced at it. Tossing it back in the purse, she headed back toward the bedroom and reached for the handle. Turning toward Shaw she opened the door.

“I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.”

She slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

….

Shaw pulled her car away from the curb and into the New York traffic. The pair traveled in silence for ten minutes as they wound their way toward Long Island and the coordinates the Machine had given them. Finally, Shaw broke the silence.

“So did you deliberately ignore your ‘god’ so I’d have to pick your lock?”

Root looked over at the ex-ISA agent and frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“Finding you involved in whatever it was you were involved in when I came in your apartment. Was it deliberate?”

As the car slowed for a red light, Root reached into her bag and removed her phone. She handed it to the Persian as they waited. Shaw glanced at it, then at the hacker, a look of confusion on her face.

“What?”

“The time stamp on the text Sameen. You broke in my place at 3:30. I received the text at 3:27. If I had been sitting there staring at my phone I still couldn't get ready before you were in the door.

“So no, Shaw it wasn't deliberate. Not that I care what you think about what I do in my free time.”

The rest of the ride was made in silence.

….

As the pair approached Bridgehampton, Root sat forward in her seat. Her face was flushed and she was smiling brightly.

“Yes I can hear you.”

She pulled her phone from her bag, fingers flying. She looked over at Shaw.

“Right turn in 100 yards. We’re five minutes away.”

Shaw frowned.

“From what?”

“Patience Sameen, you know she doesn’t always give us more information than we need. I have directions coming in as we drive…. don’t you trust her?”

“More than you… now at least.”

“That’s a cheap shot Shaw, and you know it. We’ll talk on the way back. Left here, head to the last street and it’s the third house on the ocean.”

They pulled up to a gated estate surrounded by a brick wall that stretched one hundred feet in each direction. The wrought-iron gate had a badge reader with a small camera positioned above it. As Shaw turned to ask Root what was next, her passenger handed the ex-ISA agent her phone.

“Hold it up to the camera.”

Rolling her eyes, Shaw did as requested. Seconds later there was a beeping sound and the gate slowly swung open. As she handed the phone back, the tiny Persian noticed a smirk on her companion’s face.

“Told you, Sameen, now head for the front entrance.”

The car slowly made its way up the drive, about one hundred yards, ending in a circle adjacent the front door. A two story portico highlighted the hundred year old red brick three story that, from the front, appeared to be at least 12,000 square feet. Fifty feet before the circle began, a side drive wound its way around to the back of the mansion.

“Take the side drive around to the back of the house and park facing out. We may have to leave in a hurry.”

“That gate might be a problem if we do.”

“She says she’ll take care of it, and I believe her.

“We’re going down to the beach… there’s where we’ll find them.”

The pair got out and headed for the trunk. Quickly and efficiently they armed themselves and headed toward the white sand less than one hundred feet away. Root smiled at Shaw who’s face was emotionless, but whose body language said she was ready… and enjoying herself.

As they got closer to the shore, they could see a group hunkered down about a quarter mile east of their location. Just feet away, a fifteen foot skiff rested on the beach. As they approached, they could make out three figures kneeling in the sand, hands secured behind them.

A man, a woman and a small child, no more than ten years old were being guarded by a figure in black. At the skiff, three others were unloading boxes and stacking them in the bed of a Ford pickup truck. As Root and Shaw neared, the figure guarding the three turned, and raised his weapon.

Root’s gun spit once and the guard fell, grabbing his knee in agony. The silenced retort was swallowed by the wind and surf, but the guard’s falling was noticed by the child, a little girl, who was crying hysterically. She turned to the woman and screamed.

“Mommy, look!”

The woman turned to see what the child had seen. As she watched the pair approach, her face showed signs of a recent beating, but the look in her eyes was pure despair. Root smiled, attempting to reassure her as she raised both her guns and, with her partner, made short work of the three at the truck.

They were left screaming in agony, never having even noticed their party had been crashed. Shaw went to inspect the crates and, after locating a crow bar in the back of the truck’s cab, opened the first one. She looked inside, and turned to Root.

“We’d better call Lionel, there are MANPAD’s in here.”

MANPAD’s, also know as Shoulder Launched Surface to Air Missiles (SLSAMs) were used to bring down low flying aircraft from the ground. They could easily be used to bring down passenger aircraft if the operators were within a mile of an airport. From Shaw’s inspection of the first crate, there appeared to be at least enough weaponry to bring down several dozen aircraft if properly executed.

Root was already on the phone to the detective. Two minutes later she disconnected and looked over at her partner.

“On way, let’s secure them and get out of here. We’re taking the woman and little girl.”

Shaw frowned in confusion.  
“What about the guy?”

“He’s part of this whole thing, he just got double-crossed. Zip-tie him as well.”

She walked over to the man, who stared defiantly at the hacker.

“Maybe we should put a couple in his kneecaps as well, just to be sure.”

As she removed her gun once more, his defiance crumbled and he shook his head in terror.

“Don’t hurt me, I’m innocent.”

Root shook her head slowly.

“Nice try Troy, we happen to know you set this up, convinced Randi here you were a rich playboy so you’re coming out here the last few weeks appeared to be a couple with child to allay any suspicions with the residents. This place has been rented to the ultra-rich periodically for vacations, weekends, etc. and you figured a family would be less suspicious than a single man.

“What you didn’t count on was being duped by the group that waved… let’s see, $250,000 in your face to arrange for this charade. You were too stupid to realize you were being offered huge money for relatively little effort, and there would be a catch.

“We’ve arranged for the authorities to have enough evidence to put you away for a long, long time… even ignorant, you were part of a conspiracy to bring down planes all over the country on the 15th anniversary of 9-11. You’ll be lucky to avoid the death penalty, but if you agreed to turn State’s Evidence, you might get away with life.”

The man’s face reflected shock and fear.

“Who are you people?”

Shaw approached as Root finished releasing the woman and child. She secured the man and smirked at him.

“Concerned third parties. Let’s get out of here.”

The four headed back to Shaw’s car. The woman and her daughter climbed in the back seat as Root and Shaw stowed their weapons. As Root slammed the trunk lid, she looked over at the ex-ISA agent and smiled, sadness in her eyes.

“It’s a pity, Sameen, we’re perfect for each other, but you refuse to see it.”

Shaw stared at the hacker, the sharp look in her eyes covering the sudden ache she felt through her chest. Shrugging, she climbed in the driver’s seat and the four headed back toward Manhattan.

….

A little over an hour later, after dropping the mother and child at their apartment on the lower East Side, Root and Shaw were headed back to the hacker’s apartment. The silence between them felt like a physical wall, neither willing to break it down. As Shaw pulled up to the apartment she turned to Root.

“So is your girlfriend still here?”

Root shook her head and looked sadly at the former assassin.

“She wasn’t my girlfriend Sam, just someone I ran into at a club. I doubt if she’s still around and I’m surprised you’re even interested.”

“I just figured she must be there regularly for you to just leave her there alone.”

“I have a AI watching over me and my apartment, if anything were to happen, She would have had my back. And I don’t believe that’s what you’re even asking, Shaw.

“For whatever reason, you’d like to probe and won’t admit it. And that’s the problem with you. This hiding behind your Axis II personality disorder is becoming a pretty weak excuse, and it finally convinced me there was no way you’d ever let yourself realize that you’re not that much different from me.

“No, you started this, let me finish.

“We’re two sides of the same coin, Shaw, but you refuse to see it. No, that’s a bad analogy- we’re like atoms, hydrogen and oxygen, separately explosive but when combined in the right consistency, pure and fresh and full of life. It’s like synergy.

“But you’re afraid, not of danger, not of dying, but of letting someone in, maybe from the death of your father, I don’t know.

“What I do know is that we are, or at least we were, perfect for each other. But you were so insistent that you didn’t do relationships and didn’t do feelings. I thought I could show you that we were meant to be. But you wouldn’t hear of it. You and your damn rules.

“The three night rule, remember? First night, after you patched me up when I got shot in DC. Nights two and three in a hotel room in Cripple Creek. I remember thinking ‘this is as good as it will ever get for me, but the ball’s in her court now.’ We got back from Colorado and I remember I looked at you as we walked out of the airport.

“I said, ‘Well, that was a fun couple of days, Sameen, but we’ve hit your limit. So unless you’re going to break your rules for me, I guess we’re done now. I want you to know, I’ll never forget.’ Then I got in a cab and went back to my place. I suppose I shouldn’t admit how I cried myself to sleep that night, then sat in my place for a week waiting to hear from you.

“Then the numbers started coming in waves and we got busy. But you know, even a year later, I still held out hope that you’d consider breaking those rules, you’d see how perfectly we work together and how perfectly we’d fit together. Then we got the biological weapon scare at the same time we got Tomas’ number.

“After your little fling with him I started to realize nothing, _nothing_ I could do would change you… only _you_ could change you. And you weren’t interested in changing. So I finally decided that the hole in me that I felt only you could fill would have to remain empty and I’d have to move on.

“But know this, Shaw, before I got to this point…

“I waited.

“I waited for months, for over a year…

“I waited and there was no one… no one else.”

Tears were shining in the hacker’s eyes.

“Even after Tomas, I waited.

“But eventually I realized I had to stop waiting, because it was causing me to lose what you and the others had given me- a reason to change, to become a better person. I was losing that and headed back to my old, sociopathic self. And I didn’t want to go back to that.

“So I’ve decided to move on… and if once in awhile there’s a random hook-up to help me forget what I hoped and thought might be possible so be it. And while I have to deal with the fact that you and I will never be what we could have been then you have to deal with the fact that you someday may just wake up and realize that you were afraid.

“You were afraid not just of me but of living, really living. Living with colors instead of a drab black and white existence. At least I know I gave it a shot.”

And with that the ex-hacker opened the door and gently closed it. She walked up the steps to the door of her building and let herself in without a backward glance.

Shaw sat in stunned silence for a moment, then started the car and drove away.

….

It had been three weeks since the number on Long Island. Root and Shaw had paired for two numbers and they worked together like they always had- perfectly like a hand in a glove. But there was a difference and Shaw noticed it.

No longer were their conversations laced with Root’s innuendo. Gone was the flirting that Shaw always rolled her eyes at and ignored. Most noticeably was the lack of endearments coming out of Root’s mouth when they were together.

She was civil, but distant. No more, _Sweetie_ no more _Sameen_ \- she was always Shaw on the rare occasions Root addressed her in a group, and no name at all when they were alone. Shaw was interested that the change in Root’s affect had no effect at all on her performance. She was still competent and deadly.

And, though the ex assassin tried to ignore it, she was still _hot_.

Today she met Root on the roof of an abandoned warehouse, while the drug smuggling gang they had been sent to rescue their number from worked below packaging and loading their latest shipment. The two innocent mules, hired to drive a rental truck from Arizona to the outskirts of New York for $10k each and the promise of more work, sat bound and gagged less than 25 feet from the truck struggling with their bonds and periodically moaning against the gags.

The two women worked together efficiently and silently as they set about the rescue of the mules, who were marked for execution, and the capture of the four members of the gang, sent by their leader who liked to keep himself removed from the mundane operations of the drug smuggling business.

Today would be different. The two women crashed through the skylight over the truck, rappelling down into the warehouse guns blazing. As usual, the four were quick work, dropping with hands clutching their bullet riddled kneecaps. The two women landed lightly on the roof of the truck, slipped onto the cab and down to the floor of the warehouse.

As Shaw went to release the unsuspecting mules, Root wandered over to the four gang members laying near the back of the truck. Walking up to the one who seemed to have the most fight in him, she removed her taser and started in on him, first in the thigh, then the throat and finally the groin.

As he lay twitching and quite possibly going into shock, she turned to the others and smiled sweetly, her eyes in full batshit crazy mode.

“So who wants to help a girl out and who wants to die today?”

The three remaining smugglers eyed her sullenly. One, a younger man, possibly still in his teens had already wet himself and Root looked at him, allowing her smile to widen into a ear to ear grin that reminded them of horror movies they’d watched in the past.

“I guess I’ll make another example of you, you’ve already pissed yourself.”

The young man’s eyes bugged and he shook his head violently.

“No, no…. I’ll do whatever you want, please don’t hurt me any more.”

Nodding, Root made quick work of the others, including the one she tased into submission. Once they were all zip-tied and gagged, she returned to the boy.

“You’re going to get out your phone, call your boss and tell him things went horribly wrong and the other three tried to double cross him. After they killed the mules, they started in on themselves, each wanting to take the drugs and take off. You hid behind the truck and managed to take down the last one standing.

“You’re calling him because the truck and the van you were using to transport both were disabled by gunfire and you don’t know what to do. If he could bring another van or truck down, you’ll help him load and hide the drugs.

“Oh and I’ll be listening… if you fuck it up, I’m going to make you wish you were him.”

She indicated the man she’d tased three times. The boy’s eyes showed real fear and he nodded his head emphatically.

“I’ll do it, I promise.”

He pulled his phone out, studied the screen for a moment and made the call. As the call connected, Root spoke softly in Spanish.

“Yo habla Español, no intentes nada.”

The man nodded, swallowing. There followed a short conversation which Root, courtesy of the Machine, understood. Once it ended, she nodded her satisfaction and set to work with Shaw loading the other three into the back of the rental truck. Shaw had led the two mules to the exit, handed them enough cash to get them back to get them back to Arizona with a warning to be careful about who they agree to work for.

The pair set up the scene they wanted, drugs scattered over the floor, the young man lying against the passenger side rear tire clutching his injured knee.

“When he comes in, you indicate the others are on the other side of the truck and you were hit in the battle. If you try to warn him off, the first bullet will go in your groin, then after we’re done, we’ll come back to teach you a real lesson.”

Root and Shaw took cover about fifteen feet from the door the gang’s leader would use. Less than ten minutes passed before they heard an engine in the distance. Tires screeching to a halt, the engine dying and car doors slamming announced their arrival.

As the door was kicked open, two figures slipped inside, guns drawn. The young man gestured toward the area behind the truck, and the two men headed there. As they rounded the back of the truck, another figure came through the door. The man leaning against the tire looked at him in fear.

“Jefe.”

Root emerged from her hiding spot and quickly put a bullet in the leader’s knee. As he went down screaming, the two raced back around from the back of the truck and were quickly rendered harmless by Shaw’s deadly aim.

Root approached the young man who had made the call as Shaw made quick work of zip-tying the three new arrivals. She squatted down next to him as he stared at her, fear and loathing in his eyes.

“You did well, amigo, but now you have to decide what’s next for you. You can try to run, a difficult proposition with your knee almost destroyed. You could offer to help the police which would keep you alive but might mean you spend much of the rest of your life on the run. Or you can stay here and take your chances with trying to convince him it was one of the others who turned, not you.

“It’s up to you.”

The young man hesitated, then looked at Root.

“I have relatives back in Mexico, I’ll try to escape back there.”

Root nodded and handed over a bundle of cash she’d taken from the leader’s pocket when she checked to make sure he wasn’t going to cause any more problems.

“Here, where he’s going he won’t need this. Use it to get as far from here as you can.”

Nodding gratefully, the young man got gingerly to his feet and limped away. As he disappeared out the door, Root looked at Shaw and smiled.

“We’re done here… let’s call Fusco.”

Shaw took out her phone and noticed as she put it to her ear that Root was headed toward the door as well. She quickly killed the call and called after the hacker.

“Root, can I drop you at your place?”

Root turned, smiled sadly and shook her head.

“Not necessary, Shaw, people might think you care.”

She turned again and headed out the door. Shaw, swearing under her breath, put the phone away and followed the hacker out into the warehouse parking lot.

“Root, wait.”

The hacker turned, a puzzled frown creasing her face. Shaw approached her and stopped less than two feet away.

“We need to talk, can I at least take you home?”

Root stared blankly at the ex ISA agent, then shook her head.

“OK, but I don’t know what we have to talk about.”

She walked toward Shaw’s car and slid into the passenger’s seat. Shaw, realizing the hacker was deliberately making this as hard as possible, took a deep breath, then followed. As she slipped behind the wheel, she finished talking to Fusco and put her phone away. She looked over at Root, who was checking her phone and generally ignoring the ex-assassin.

Shaw decided to ignore the fact that she was being ignored, and started the car. She drove out of the warehouse district and drove toward the city. Root paid little attention, preferring to keep herself distracted with her phone and let any conversation be directed by the driver. The hacker even refrained from comment when it became apparent Shaw wasn’t headed toward Root’s apartment.

When they pulled up outside of one of Finch’s safe houses, Root looked over at Shaw with a confused expression.

“Why here? I don’t need to be hidden, and you have your own place.”

“Don’t you remember? This is where I took you that first night, after I patched you up. You mentioned it the last time we talked. That was ‘Night Number One’ I believe you called it.”

“So you brought me here why, exactly? To rub it in my face? I remember Shaw, believe me, I remember. And I’m surprised that you don’t realize all you’re doing by bringing me here is rubbing salt in the wounds.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do, Root. I’m trying to explain something to you and to do it, I have to take you back to that first night in this place. We spent the night in the most intense way I ever spent time with anyone, male or female. I left here shaken to my core.

“I had no idea how to handle it so I ignored it. Then a few weeks later, we were in Colorado with two days to kill and it was like no time at all had elapsed since the night at the safe house. I never said a word to you on the flight back because I didn’t know what to say.

“I let you say what you did when we left the airport and didn’t reply because I couldn’t speak. I wanted to say, ‘don’t go Root, stay with me, the rules suck, at least as far as you’re concerned,’ but the words wouldn’t come.

“You’re right, I was scared. Scared of what I was feeling, scared of feeling at all. I’ve always known something was wrong with me but you made me feel… well you made me _feel_. I didn’t know what to do with the feelings, but they were there.”

Root was staring at Shaw like she was speaking a foreign language. She opened her mouth, but the ex-agent rushed ahead.

“No, now it’s my turn. I’m going to finish this, then I’ll take you to your apartment and we can go on like…. like however we’ve been acting. But I will finish telling you this.”

Root nodded her acquiescence and waved at her to keep going.

“I had a fling with Tomas, not so much because I found him irresistible, but because I was trying to drive my thoughts and feelings about you away. He’s hot, I’ll admit it, but I really wanted to convince myself that if I went back to hot, one night stands I could forget about the way I felt with you.

“I was wrong. All the night with Tomas did was show me how much more the nights with you meant. Then, when I realized the way I felt about you wasn’t going away, I was scared again, this time about hurting you by acting the way I always act. The way I’ve been with you the last year is mostly about me being scared.

“Scared of my feelings.

“Scared of admitting that I have feelings.

“Scared of the possibility of having even more feelings.

“So yeah, Root, I’ve been scared a lot lately, and I’ve done a really fucked up job of dealing with it. So much that I pushed you completely away and all that’s done is make my fears more intense and more painful. Because pushing you away made me want you even more.

“When I showed up at your place and you were with someone, I felt sick inside. I didn’t realize how empty it made me feel because, in all honesty, I don’t know if I ever felt that before. Maybe when my dad died, but I don’t remember it except that people thought I didn’t react the way they expected me too.

“When you confronted me about the way I acted, once again I felt sick inside. Knowing I was hurting you by my behavior made the emptiness even more intense, made the sick feeling inside even worse. God knows I don’t deserve you Root, but I’ve come to realize the last few weeks that the only thing that’s going to make this sickness go away is you… and me.. together.

“Maybe admitting it will help me heal after we go our separate ways, maybe at least I can tell myself that I finally came clean and did what I could and it just wasn’t enough. Part of me feels I shouldn’t even admit this to you, because it might cause you to take another look at us, and one thing I feel pretty strongly about is this… you deserve more than I can ever give you.

“I don’t know that I can feel for you the way someone should feel for you. You are amazing, you’re hot, brilliant, dangerous and deadly. And did I mention you’re hot? You should have someone with the ability to love you like you deserve to be loved. I can’t even admit I have feelings for you until we’ve gone way past the point where normal couples would be done.

“And yes, I have feelings for you… but I don’t think I can ever love you like you should be loved. So there it is… too little and too late, but all I have.”

Shaw rubbed her eyes, cleared her throat and reached for the ignition.

“Now I’ll take you home.”

The ride back to Root’s apartment took a little over twenty minutes… twenty long silent minutes. The ex-ISA agent spent it feeling conflicted- part of her dreading watching Root walk away again, her guilt at how she’d treated the only person who made her _feel_ maybe the only person who would ever make her feel fighting with the relief she felt at finally coming clean about the way she felt.

As they pulled to a stop outside the hacker’s apartment, Shaw smiled faintly and turned to look at the woman who’d blown into her life like a tornado leaving a wonderful trail of destruction as to Shaw’s view of herself and the world. Her eyes stung as she reached over to touch her arm affectionately, and wished she could say something witty, something romantic, something….

Root continued to stare out the window not turning to acknowledge Shaw’s touch. As the seconds stretched out and Shaw wondered if her chest could feel any more constricted, her passenger finally turned to face the woman who’d just admitted what Root had only dreamed of hearing for over a year.

As she looked into the ex assassin’s face, the tears that had filled her eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks. The tall brunette beauty’s eyes were shining as she continued to cry softly and without embarrassment as she now stared at Shaw with something that tugged at the ex-agent’s heartstrings and made her wish she could do something, anything to make this work.

Shaw waited for Root to turn and get out of the car, but she simply stared at the petite Persian and cried. Shaw, realizing there was something important happening, but unsure what it was, forced herself to remain calmly holding her hand on Root’s arm, forcing herself to sit quietly while her mind screamed at her to do something, either grab her and kiss her or get out of the car and run away.

After an eternity that was probably two minutes, Root took a deep breath, wiped her face with her sleeve and cleared her throat.

“I wish you had told me this months ago, Sam. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to distance myself from you and my feelings for you. I always knew you felt something, but thought you’d never let yourself go enough to ever admit it.

“No, now it’s my turn to talk.

“You hurt me Sam, not by the fling with Tomas, but with your completely misreading the way I have always looked at you. I know you don’t show your feelings the way most people do. I know you say you don’t do feelings. I know you say you have an Axis II Personality Disorder so you can never ‘return’ another person’s feelings for you.

“I get all that. But what you’ve never gotten, maybe because I haven’t said it quite the right way, is that _I never cared_. Not about you, not about your ability to feel however you feel, I always cared about that. But what never bothered me, what I never cared about is the way you really are. Because the way you really are, as far as I'm concerned, is perfect.

“I always thought you were perfect just the way you were. I never needed candle-lit dinners, Valentine’s Day cards or sappy love notes…. I needed _you_. I needed the straight arrow who pierced my heart just the way she was, not some sappy romantic version of you.

“I wanted you the way you were, but it had to be a two way street. I don’t ever want you to change for me Sam, that would change the woman I fell for. And if you changed, because I asked you to or because you thought I wanted you to, then it would spoil our dynamic.

“You never asked me to stop flirting with you… despite your rolling your eyes, despite your saying ‘never going to happen… despite your saying ‘I don’t do feelings.’ You never said to me ‘Root, leave me alone.’ So I always felt that deep down, part of you enjoyed our little game. I finally gave up, not because I quit caring, but because my caring was starting to cause me to return to a place I wanted no more part of.

“You and the rest of the team changed me. I went from an unfeeling, calculating mercenary who had no problem with killing if it got the job done, to a person who believed in something greater than myself. I didn’t want to go back to that first person and my despair was leading me into a place where I thought I might just revert.

“That’s why I moved on, and that’s why I could no longer sit around pining for what I could never have. And you never understood what I wanted to have.

“Not what the world thinks people should have.

“Not what your vision of _Ms. Right_ for me would be.

“Not someone to love me the way you think I _deserve_ to be loved.

“No, all I ever wanted to have was you, straight arrow, Axis II, rolling her eyes… perfectly hot, perfectly dangerous and perfectly matched for each other.

“All I ever wanted was you.”

And the hacker leaned across the seat and gently kissed the ex-ISA agent. Then, eyes still shining, tears streaking her face, but smiling, she leaned back and tilted her head toward her steps.

“So you want to come up and see if we can figure out a way to make this work?”

The tiny Persian stared into Root’s eyes, hers wide with wonder. She nodded.

“Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not real happy with this, but I'm posting it anyway. I'd like to know how others feel.


	5. A New GENeration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a prequel- the idea for the series is each chapter is a stand alone. This might have been Chapter one if I'd thought of it earlier, but decided Gen and Root together needed another look. As always, comments fuel my desire to post.

“Who in the hell is this?”

Root stared at the monitor with exasperation. The third hack attempt in the last hour was beginning to piss her off. While impressed with the hacker’s ingenuity and persistence, she was tiring of clearing each assault and was ready to wipe out the offenders hard drive as a less than subtly warning.

She worked her keyboard for several minutes, then satisfied sat back.

_Try this again asshole and it might not be so simple to fix._

….

The tall brunette hacker and sometime assassin was currently surfing the Dark Web, going through the many attempts to purchase her hacking services. She immediately tossed the vast majority as too mundane or not worth the amount offered. Her IT assaults started at six figures, and then had to interest her or at least promise a challenge to her skills.

The rare hits she accepted were always a minimum of $500K and only with a reason she could justify to her almost nonexistent conscience. Rapist or murderer, acceptable under certain conditions. Anything else… sorry, find someone else.

Her first hit ever was a drug kingpin who murdered a mule and her family because she had the audacity to be apprehended at the point of transfer and in her panic agreed to be a witness in exchange for a lighter sentence. She was stabbed to death in prison. Before she died, she got the tragic news that her family had been butchered by el Lobo.

Her mother, two teenage sisters and an eighteen month old niece were murdered in their apartment in Brooklyn. The father of the infant and fiancee of one of the victims begged Root to help him do something, anything to avenge the family. Root decided after hearing the story to rid the world of this virus pro bono.

She set about bringing down an entire drug smuggling operation. First she hacked el Lobo’s computer network and tipped DEA to two shipments being brought in from Columbia. Next she arranged to have his accounts emptied and the money disappear into offshore accounts. Desperate, he went to the mob for cash to save his enterprise and Root tipped Secret Service.

When they raided and busted the exchange, the agents implied the drug czar had tipped them off, ensuring his name was on a organized crime hit list.

She then accepted the contract for $100,000 from the mob, arranged a meeting with the promise of restoring his lost funds, and when the man showed, he was tased, stripped and brought to a cellar in an abandoned tenement just blocks from where the mule had lived with her family.

Secured to a chair with zip-ties, he was then tortured by the hacker, all the while a picture of the family he had butchered was in a frame on a table only six feet from his naked figure. After three days of torturing the man to the point of unconsciousness, then reviving him and beginning again, she finally disemboweled him and left him to bleed out.

Hours later, the drug kingpin’s body was consumed in a natural gas explosion that destroyed the building and created such an inferno it was several days before the arson investigators figured out the charred mess under some of the burned out hulk of the building was possibly a body.

While she felt a certain justification for the hit, the entire episode left her uncomfortable and she put a self-imposed restriction on accepting hits in the future. The minimum price tag kept most potential clients away, and the requirement of a full disclosure on the reason for the hit, which would be checked by the hacker, reduced potential business to almost nothing. Her hacking projects kept her comfortable, and she’d only relented and accepted four more contracts in the decade since the drug kingpin.

….

When Root discovered _another_ hack less than an hour after she was certain she’d destroyed the computer that had initiated the first three, she decided a more direct approach was necessary. She hacked the hacker and the hacker’s location, then went to the location determined to put an end to the annoyances.

When she arrived at the location, she was shocked to discover an dilapidated building that looked like it should have been condemned years ago. Several homeless were living in the structure, but until she slipped into the basement, she saw no sign of any electronics that would indicate any possible hacking.

As she entered the basement, she got a reading on some bandwidth that far exceeded any possible internet in the area. As she snooped through the lower level, she became aware of the sound of moaning and a regular pounding noise coming from the other side of a concrete block wall.

Curious, Root circled back checking for a passage she’d missed. The entire wall was block, only obscured by a six foot tall shelving unit in the corner. When she investigated it, she noticed a small recessed handle in the second shelf from the top. Grasping it, she gently pulled and the shelves swung open, revealing a room lit by three bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

Fifteen feet beyond the entrance, two men stood backs turned to Root. Beyond them, she could make out a tiny figure bound to a chair. The men were discussing what to do with her since she apparently wasn’t telling them what they wanted to know.

Root stood silently as the men turned to the figure and tried once again.

“This is your last chance. We don’t want to hurt you any more. We’re after your mom, dad or whoever is responsible for robbing our client blind. We don’t want to hurt _anyone_ we just want to talk to them and convince them to stop.

Root smirked when she heard that. _Yeah, right._ Her curiosity was piqued and she decided, rashly to tase instead of shooting. She silently snuck up on the pair, tased the larger one first, and as he moaned and crumpled to the ground, quickly attempted to repeat on the second.

He was too quick, spinning and grabbing the taser from her hand, as he reached for her to give her a taste of her own medicine, she was forced to use the gun in her left hand, and the second went down, the wound ensuring he would never get back up.

As she waited for the first to regain enough control to talk to her, she glanced at the object of the two mens’ attention. Stunned she went in closer to make sure. _She’s a girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, maybe even younger._

Root set to work loosening the girl’s bonds and checking to see if she was badly injured. Though painful, it appeared to be cuts and bruises with no long term damage done. The girl was still semi-conscious so Root left her in the chair and turned to the first man who was beginning to recover.

“Why are you here? I’d like to stay all day and play, but I have places to go and things to do. I don’t have time to get to know you and your pain threshold well, so I promise to go easy if you’ll tell me why you’re here and what you’re trying to find out.”

She took the taser again and placed in near the ulnar nerve and shocked him. The waves of pain caused his eyes to roll up in his head and also caused some of his bodily functions to lose control. Root swung his head around so he could see her crazy look, the one she let out rarely.

“I see you wet yourself, I wonder how it will feel when I press this against your groin and hit your balls with one million volts. I bet you’ll be willing to let me know what you’re doing here and why she’s so important. Hell, you know I enjoy this so much I kind of hope you are going to need more convincing.”

The man gave up, shaking his head violently back and forth.

“Please don’t hurt me, I’ll tell you anything. We were sent to take out the person whose been draining our bosses accounts. He’s lost almost $250,000 in the last two weeks and offered us $10K to get rid of whoever it is. He paid someone to trace the signal hacking his account but the trail went cold at this building.

“We came in the basement looking for some answers and just as we hit the basement floor, the shelf in back started to swing open. We grabbed her, thinking she might be able to tell us who is doing this. We only wanted information from her, the thief is the one we’re looking for.”

Root shook her head.

“You guys are stupid, but I already put one of you down, I shouldn’t care about the second…”

“No, no… please let me go- I promise I’ll stay away from her. I’ll stay away from this building… please just don’t kill me.”

Root hesitated, pretending to think it over. Then she shook her head, while letting the crazy smile creep back across her face.

“But I would so enjoy killing you.”

She placed the taser against his groin and activated it. As his body shook and his eyes rolled once again, she took the taser and pressed it to the back of his head. As she sent another shock directly to the spot where the spinal cord joined the skull, she took her gun and slammed the handle into his head.

_He should be out for six hours or more._

The girl was beginning to regain consciousness. Root glanced at her and winked, then set about zip-tying the unconscious thug’s hands and feet. She checked the pairs’ pockets and pulled two wads of bills out. As the young girl stared at the hacker, Root walked over and grabbed her hands.

“I need to talk to you and I suspect you're going to try to leave so I'm afraid I have to discourage you.”

Seconds later, the girl scowled at Root and raised her freshly secured wrists.

“You didn't have to zip-tie me too.”

“You and I are going to have a little chat, then I'll decide what to do about you. Come on.”

Root led the girl out of the room, up the stairs and out of the building. She put the girl in the back seat of her car and drove to one of her safe houses. Dragging her along, Root opened the door to the apartment and led her inside. Brusquely shoving the teen onto the couch, she walked into the kitchen, grabbed an apple and sat at the other end of the couch.

Ignoring the youngster, Root sat less than three feet away munching on the fruit. When she finished she rose and headed back to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water and returned. The two sat in silence as Root drank. After several minutes the silence grew uncomfortable for the young girl and she turned her head toward the hacker and frowned.

“Why did you bring me here)”

“When I was your age I was already making six figures hacking corporations around the country. Those guys had no idea it was you all along. I figured out the person hacking my shit had to be a kid because they were obviously doing it just to show themselves, _and me of course_ , that they could.

“Your breaching my firewall was impressive each time but you never did anything but snoop or my automatic defense protocols would have kicked in. You were probably trying to see if I was worth ripping off before you tried anything serious. I came here to scope out your situation and setup and lucky for you I did.”

Several emotions crossed the teen’s face. She settled on defiance.

“So what are you going to do?”

Root stared at the girl for several uncomfortable moments. The defiance began to ebb, being replaced by uncertainty and just a smidgen of fear. Root waited until she saw the fear washing over the girl and threatening to be replaced by panic, then she spoke.

“That depends on you and what is said in the next few minutes. You screwed up royally, kid… you fucked with the wrong hacker. While you’re good, I’m exceptional, and while you’re a trouble-maker and possibly annoying, I’m flat out dangerous. I’ve half a mind to make you disappear, but I’ve got a soft spot for youthful hackers, seeing as I was one once.

“So here’s the deal: I’m going to ask you a few questions and, depending on your answers, one of three things is going to happen. The least likely is that I’ll decide you were just lucky and let you go after warning you and a slap on the wrist. There is a possibility I will decide you have value and we need to have further conversations about your future.

“Last, if I decide you are more trouble than you’re worth and a danger to my activities, I’ll have to kill you. Believe me, that’s not something I really would like to do, but I won’t lose any sleep if that’s the way this ends up going.

“So pay attention, answer without any BS and don’t try to lie to me. I hack people as easily as I hack computers and I can already tell you either don’t have parents or your mom is more interested in her next drink or fix than anything you are up to.”

The teen stared at her, surprise, suspicion and curiosity fighting for control. Finally curiosity appeared to prevail. She nodded at Root then hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Who are you and what do you want to know?”

“Name’s Root, it’s not the name _I_ was born with but it’s the name I chose. Now, what’s your name?”

“Gen.”

“Ok, Gen, where is your family?”

“I never knew my father, my mom died a few years ago and when she died I was sent here to live with my grandfather. Two years ago, he died and I was left living in that building with my cousin Vad. He didn’t care for much beyond his next fix until about six months ago, when he left one night and never came back. I think he’s dead.”

Root sat very still, trying to keep her composure. Gen’s story, which had the ring of truth was too close to her own, except for the grandfather and cousin. When her mother died after years of drinking destroyed her body from the inside out, she hacked Bishop’s Hall of Records, changed her birthday (adding 16 months to her age, allowing for emancipation) and bid farewell to the state of Texas.

_She’s had it worse than me, at least it seems that way._

“How old are you, Gen?”

“I’ll be fifteen in six weeks.”

Root felt almost sick inside at the thought of what this girl had been through.

“How’d you learn about hacking?”

“My grandfather’s neighbor was a woman who was some kind of computer prodigy until she discovered cocaine and crystal meth. I stayed with her when my grandfather was out and when she was sober she’d show me stuff. After Ded died, she was still here, but she did more and more coke and rock until one day an ambulance picked her up.

“I took her computer stuff and hid it behind the wall. I told myself I would give it back when she got better, but I figured she was never getting better and never coming back. I spent weeks in the basement learning how to hack, as you call it. I also discovered this thing called the Dark Web- there’s really cool stuff there…. and some stuff that’s not so cool.”

Root was moved by her interesting combination of street smarts and innocence. She decided to take a small risk.

“So Gen, if I were to let you stay here for awhile, would you not destroy the place? I can get you some food, and a computer to work on, but you would have to trust me by letting me know names of all your family so I can check out your story.

“If it _does_ check out, and you show that you can be trusted, I think I can let you stay here for awhile. Understand though, if you cross me, I’ll either toss you out on the streets or send you somewhere where you’ll not see daylight for a long, long time. As you may have noticed, I will do anything and everything to protect my little universe.

Root sat silently for a few minutes, letting the teen consider. Gen’s face was a strange mixture of hard, soft, defiant, scared and curious. What Root saw in her eyes though was just a glimmer of _hope_ as if there was a possibility of rescue from the deplorable life she’d apparently been forced to live.

Gen nodded slowly and smiled, the first smile Root had seen on her face. It was something less than a one hundred watt smile, but it still made Root think there was a chance…. a small chance that she could be saved.

And Root realized if _Gen_ was going to be saved, Root was going to have to undergo a change as well. While she’d always be a hacker, she considered it a noble profession, especially when she was ripping off people who preyed on the innocent, she had always rationalized the killing she did as only to those who _really_ deserved it.

_No more. You don’t need the money, and if she is going to have a chance, that’s a door you’re going to have to close forever. No more killer for hire, even on those rare occasions it seems justified._

Root smiled back at the teen and got up, walked to the kitchen and returned with a steak knife. She cut the zip-ties with one motion and reached out to help the youngster to her feet.

“I bet you’re hungry. I’ve got ravioli in cans, and after you eat something we’ll get you cleaned up. Once you don’t look like you’ve been fighting in the octagon I think they call it, we’ll go out and get you some groceries.

“I’ll be in and out, but I’ll try to get back here every night so you don’t have to sleep here alone, though I can’t guarantee it. When I have time, I’ll show you some tricks I’m sure you’re original teacher didn’t know.

“We’re going to take this slow, but if you can be trusted to follow a few simple rules, I think you can be assured you won’t be living in shit holes like the one you almost died in. You remind me a little of myself years ago and I’d like you to not learn lessons the hard way like I did.

“Let’s get you fed and cleaned up.”

Three hours later, the pair walked back into the safe house, each carrying two large paper sacks filled with supplies. There was a nice mix of healthy foods and pure junk- the result of a give and take they established during the first few aisles in the market. Root told Gen she was going to learn to both eat and cook healthy while still allowing her to satisfy the desire she shared with other teens for sugar and fast food.

After unpacking and putting away the food, Root offered to make her soup and a sandwich with the promise of a short hacking lesson after they ate. Gen’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the prospect and she even helped Root set the table and clean up afterward.

Finally, after handing Gen a cup of hot cocoa and pouring herself a glass of red wine, Root sat down at the kitchen table, pulled her laptop bag out from under the table and removed her computer. As she powered up, she turned to the youngster and smiled.

“Now I’m going to show you the way in and out of a few closed systems to start, but there’s one thing I want to get you to promise me first.”

Gen, already developing a case of hero worship, nodded enthusiastically.

“Anything.”

Root reached over and took Gen’s hand and looked at her to show she was serious.

“From now on, you will not go onto the Dark Web unless I’m here. There are places there no youth should see, or even know exist. When I’m here, I’ll show you some of the less disgusting places, but when you’re alone, you need to stay off it. I can easily track your browsing history no matter how thorough you think you are at erasing traces.

“So don’t bother.”

Gen rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

“Yes, _mother_.”


	6. GENerating a New Asset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one wanders off course a bit from the original story premise. It's not quite a stand alone, reading Chapters 1 and 5 would probably be advisable, but not totally necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a thought that this isn't a finished work, though its direction fits POI canon, if the actual story is AU. Also, I seriously considered tossing this, but settled for a reader warning... I'm not satisfied by this.

“Hey Pierce, what do you expect me to do with this shit? I'm supposed to be learning advanced coding from you and the junk you keep giving me makes me wonder if you're in over your head.”

Logan Pierce looked up from his laptop, a smile creasing his face. Every day for the past six weeks it was the same story. The teen wise-ass bitching about her tasks, keeping up a non-stop monologue about her mundane assignments then heading back to her loft on the third floor where she coded well into every night.

Every night she worked a minimum of five hours, after a ten hour work/training day and every morning she was at her workstation ten minutes before anyone else arrived doing it all over again ad nauseum. She was talented, driven and oh, so young.

Pierce thought back to the first time he laid eyes on her, fifteen, skinny with frizzy hair sticking out reminding him vaguely of the vision of Medusa that haunted his dreams when he was seven or eight.

Not her face which was attractive while still developing into a young adult- but the hair sticking out in spots wrapping around her face and neck in spots- that's what haunted his childhood nightmares as the Gorgon would grab his chin and force him to look into her eyes.

As he was compelled to gaze upon the countenance of the Greek myth, he always woke up, scream caught in his throat wondering when he wouldn't wake up in time to avoid being turned to stone. The irrational, ice cold terror that siezed his midsection whenever thoughts of Medusa trickled across his mind didn't dissipate until he was well into his teens.

And now he had a new wild haired figure bound and determined to revive the nightmares of his childhood, only instead of being turned to stone he was going to be driven insane by her constant whining.

The worst part of it was that for all her bitching she may have been the most talented hacker he'd come across since…. well, since Root came out of the shadows.

_Root- skills approaching Finch’s when it comes to IT and approaching that Shaw lady’s when it comes to other areas of our business. Hot, as well- too bad she seems to be fond of the ladies. Oh well…. she's pretty scary anyway…. those eyes remind me of Jack in The Shining (Heerrreee’s Johnny!)._

_Funny they both showed up around the same time and she’s used some techniques I never saw before Root came on the scene….._

“Pierce are you even listening to me? This app keeps crashing when you put in anything more complicated than a zip code. If you aren't going to let me tweak it, it will never track anyone without them being aware.”

“Can I at least take a look at it before I give you carte blanche to ‘tweak’ it Gen?”

….

Six weeks earlier Dr. Megan Tillman’s phone rang as she sat in her D.C. townhouse with glass of wine, relaxing after another 12 hours of ER chaos. She glanced at the screen and ignored it after seeing the ID was blocked. Seconds later a text message came in, also ID blocked.

_Please pick up doctor._

Within seconds the phone rang again. Intrigued, the doctor accepted the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello Dr. Tillman, my name is John. We spoke several months ago when I had the pleasure of talking you out of something that would have possibly…..”

“I remember you. I thought I'd never hear from you again.”

“Well doctor, I need a favor, and I thought you’d either be able to help me or help me find someone who could help me. We’ve come across a young lady in need of both shelter and quite possibly some therapy.

“I’ve been in touch with a New York psychotherapist named Iris Campbell, and she’s recommending a change of scenery for this girl. She believes leaving New York will help her mental and emotional state and my associates and I thought DC would be acceptable.

“We’ve made arrangements for her education- she’s a brilliant systems developer in spite of her youth and she will be working as a co-op for an IT firm in the Washington area. What we need is a therapist we can trust to help her with some of the trauma she’s been through in her short life.

“Both her parents are dead. Her grandfather, who was her caregiver after their deaths is dead. And the cousin she lived with after the grandfather died has disappeared. Complicating the situation is the fact that she was then targeted for a hit and when she was rescued from that, it was by a person who led her into a life of… well not exactly crime, but questionable activities.

“My employer and our associates would like her to have a chance at a normal life, with the right direction she could be extremely successful, we’d like her to have a chance at a normal, happy life as well. But we believe she needs therapy.”

Memories washed over the doctor as the man who had mysteriously appeared, then saved her from committing an act of revenge that would have undoubtedly destroyed not only her career but her life explained why he had called after more than a year. She always felt she owed John a debt of gratitude, but felt the only way she could ever repay it was by helping others.

The thought that she could directly help her rescuer led to her instantaneous response.

“I can help you. I’d like to meet her so I can find the proper avenue for any therapy she might need.”

….

The meeting was two days later in Dr. Tillman’s office just down the hall from the ER she had worked at for the past eighteen months. Her first impression upon meeting Gen was that her life experiences had caused her to erect a wall that would require time and effort to break down and that she probably needed a friend more than a therapist.

The girl was brilliant, headstrong yet the doctor sensed a vulnerability underneath the armor she had decided was her best defense against more pain in her life. Wanting to repay John with more than simply a referral, she offered to counsel Gen herself until she either ran into roadblocks that required an analyst, or simply decided she didn’t need any counsel.

When Reese reported back to Finch that Dr. Tillman had taken a personal interest in Gen’s welfare, both were pleased, but not surprised. They made arrangements to be in touch with the doctor weekly for updates on her progress outside her education, and further arrangements with Logan Pierce to be updated on her education.

Her education progressed at a rate that would have stunned most. Neither Finch nor Pierce were surprised since both had progressed through formal education at rates that could have been written up it scholarly journals.

Each was raised in homes that could be described as benign neglect at best, and abusive at worst. Both were left to their own devices for most of their childhood, school being the only place they regularly were socialized and had any positive interaction with others. Sinking deep into themselves, once they discovered the virtual world, and in Finch’s case simply computers, their lives took a radical turn.

Finding a universe where they could survive and thrive without any help from family, they dedicated themselves with abandon to it and succeeded wildly. They saw in Gen similarities to their own youth, though hers would be categorized as being far beyond any neglect they had been subjected to.

So her focus and determination didn’t surprise them. They were impressed with her mind but the rest of it was almost expected knowing what they did about her background, and the period of time she spent under Root’s tutelage.

Bottom line- Gen appeared to have all the potential of a Gates or a Jobs (or maybe even a Pierce or a Finch). They hesitated to consider the possibility of her becoming another Root. Or maybe they trembled at the thought.

….

“So Pierce, are you going to give me a little more leeway in my investigation of this?”

Gen’s progress, from a strictly systems viewpoint was staggering. She had quickly mastered everything Pierce threw at her, and demanded more challenging tasks. After a week and a half of probing, Pierce called Finch and told him of her progress.

“She’s a genius, Mr. Finch. I don’t know if we’re teaching her anything or holding her back.”

Finch, thoughtfully considered their options.

“I’ve some advanced applications’ research that we can start her on. The Machine has been spitting out lines of code far beyond my understanding. I’ve had to go almost at a crawl to try to understand what’s even being suggested by some of the applications that presented.

“Let’s start her on some of the coding I’ve deciphered so far, see what she does with it and bring her along slowly. If her analysis is solid, we can let her look into some of the code we haven’t been able to crack so far.”

Within weeks she had established herself and Finch gave her an app the Machine had dispensed only days ago which left him questioning his creation’s reliability. It seemed simple enough, a tracking app that would be used to locate a specific person within a limited search area.

The first time it ran, and crashed when given the relatively simple task of locating Bear, who was sitting next to Finch in the library, he thought he’d installed it wrong. The second and subsequent times he launched the app, the result was the same.

After a few tweaks, his relaunch of the app was not only unsuccessful, it crashed the server he launched the app from. When several attempts yielded similar results, he thought it would be a perfect opportunity to test Gen’s capabilities. Their thoughts were to have her debug and work up an operations manual after explaining what it appeared to be.

“There are some bugs and we’d like to see if you can work them out and get this running optimally. We’ve given you the barest outline of what it is designed to do- the rest is up to you to discover.”

Gen smirked at Pierce when handed the project.

“Testing me, huh? We’ll I can play your game, Pierce, but you’d better have something good, I’m not going to be happy if I discover the new version of Oregon Trail on this.”

She held up the USB drive. The next morning, after several hours of work back at her apartment and a morning filled with frustration, she exploded at Pierce regarding the apps crashing “whenever I put something more complicated than a zip code in.” As Logan approached, he realized Finch would want an update immediately.

He gave the girl’s workstation a quick glance, tapped on her keyboard for a minute or so, then nodded.

“Tweak away my dear. I’ll probably have more for you by the end of the day.”

He headed for his office, leaving a muttering 15 year-old behind him.

….

“Gen, can I see you in my office?”

The young girl stood and followed Pierce to his office, located in the far corner of the second floor. He rarely used it, preferring to work out with the rest of the team and only disappeared when he had to consult with Finch on something of importance.

When she entered the office, the first thing she noticed was the big screen monitor was sitting so both she and Pierce could see it when they sat. The second thing was that Finch’s face stared out at her from the screen.

_Something’s going on- I haven’t seen him since the week they caught Root and me in that shrink’s office._

Pierce closed the door, walked around his desk and sat down. Finch’s voice came through the speakers.

“Let’s get started. Logan, how much have you told Ms. Zhirova?”

“Nothing regarding this matter, Mr. Finch, I thought it would be better if you explained it to her.”

Gen frowned, looking at the monitor, then over at Pierce.

“What’s going on? You gave me this, this… thing to work on yesterday and it’s shit. What should be the simplest thing in the world, locating, either crashes itself or attempts to crash the server every, that’s _every_ time it runs. I can’t believe you guys can’t develop something that functions, at least on a rudimentary level.”

Pierce looked at the screen, eyebrows raised. Finch had a shadow of a smile playing across his face. He glanced toward Pierce.

“She does speak her mind, Logan, you’re right about that.

“Ms. Zhirova, we didn’t develop the app you’ve been tasked with debugging. We’re trying to figure out what its actual purpose is and why it was sent to us. It’s left us stymied every time we’ve tried to crack it and we gave it to you thinking a fresh set of eyes would help.

“We want to bring you up to speed on it hoping the three of us can figure out the next step in understanding this piece of coding.”

Gen sat for at least two minutes, processing Finch’s words. Appearing to make up her mind about something, she reached in the back pocket of her jeans and pulled her smartphone out. After tapping on it for a minute or so, she looked up at the monitor.

“For a couple of smart guys, you are pretty dumb.”

Ignoring the surprised looks on their faces, Gen continued.

“You’ve got me trying to analyze an app, you’ve tried and failed, and yet you apparently have forgotten that the person who taught me everything I’ve been using here was taken by you six weeks ago and apparently locked away somewhere where I can’t access her even with the number she gave me before you guys _caught_ her.

“Root told me she was going to allow you guys to capture her since it was her only chance to find out if something she _believed was going on was actually going on_. She gave me an emergency number to contact her in case things went squirrelly, but you’ve apparently done something to her so she can’t answer me.

“So first, what have you done with Root? Second, why haven’t you thought to ask her about this app? And finally, now that I know what’s going on, are you going to fix this and get her on it?

“Or have you had her arrested or something.”

Finch and Pierce stared at each other for a moment. Then Finch stood.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Ten minutes passed, then Finch returned to his workstation, made a few keystrokes and the monitor split, revealing Root sitting at another workstation. She smiled at Gen, pointedly ignoring both Finch and Pierce.

“Gen, how are you. I can’t tell you how worried I was when they first told me they had sent you away. Harry just told me you’ve been working with Logan Pierce for the last few weeks and I’m proud of what he says you’ve accomplished.”

“Hi Root, are you OK?”

“I’m fine, kiddo, my movements have just been a little restricted.”

Finch looked at the monitor.

“We wanted to ensure ourselves we could trust her, Ms. Zhirova. She’s been earning our trust bit by bit, including helping another operative on an errand a week ago.

“Now what do you think Ms. Groves can do to help with this problem.?”

Gen and Root spent the next fifteen minutes talking, with Finch and Pierce interjecting a few times. When Root had been brought up to speed on the issue, she asked Finch to bring it up and let her take a look.

Fifteen more minutes passed with Root’s fingers flying at a speed that surprised both Finch and Pierce, while Gen sat back with a smirk on her face. Twice the program crashed, and once Root uttered a quick, “damn, oh no you don’t,” before doing something on the keyboard. Finally, the monitor was filled with line after line of code flying by until suddenly it stopped.

Root’s face appeared in the corner of the monitor.

“Look at lines 2285 through 2565.”

Finch stared at the screen as a frown appeared. Pierce looked confused. Gen stared at it briefly before swearing softly.

“Shit. the code here is all wrong for locating an individual. It’s almost like it’s the exact opposite of what it should be.”

“Exactly Gen. Harry, I think you need to bring Gen into the loop as far as _She_ is concerned. She’s smart enough to be an asset, hell, she may be smarter than all of us, just less experienced. She needs to be brought in all the way if you’re going to be able to handle the implications of this app.

“What do you mean, Ms. Groves?”

Gen jumped in.

“Geez, Finch, can’t you call her Root? What’s wrong with you?”

Finch ignored the teen and looked over at Root.

“I repeat, _Root_ , what do you mean?”

“This app has nothing to do with locating. It’s a cloaking program, designed to hide people from location apps or programs trying to locate them. You got this from _Her_ didn’t you Harry?”

Finch nodded.

“Yes the Machine provided us with this app and no explanation. Ms. Zhirova… Gen, we have been working with an Artificial Intelligence for the past few years. The Machine, as I have named it…”

“Her.” Root interjected.

“Whatever…. the Machine has given us people to either help out of trouble or restrain from doing harm to others and it’s also helping the government keep a lid on terrorist attacks. Your friend _Root_ apparently deduced the Machine’s existence and set about discovering it, and stumbled upon us in the process.

“I’ll have Logan thoroughly brief you on all this after this meeting. You’ve proved you’re deserving of being brought in, but I must warn you, there could be danger in knowing about the Machine’s existence.”

“Like I’ve never been in danger before. Root, what are you implying about the implications of this app?”

“There is literally no reason for the Machine to come up with an app that does what this one does… well there is one and I hate to even consider the possibility of where that reason might eventually led us

“We have an app that basically blocks any GPS locating of specific individuals. The only practical value is to allow individuals to hide from those trying to find them. So it could be simply a tool to help us.

“She however, knows the logistics of running this app requires so much storage it is virtually worthless as an app for anything other than a server itself. So the only thing I can figure she wants to give us by providing this app is a way of hiding ourselves- but the question then becomes hide ourselves from what.

“And since there must be a complete server to do it, it seems illogical for it to be of value to anyone looking to hide themselves, unless….”

There was silence as the others tried to process where Root was going. Root was processing and jumping ahead as she thought furiously.

“Unless she was trying to provide a way for us to hide from her. But why would she want us to hide from her…. unless….

“Unless there’s a possibility of another machine out there…. one that might view her, and by extension us, as a threat and move to eliminate both her and her assets as a way of eliminating the competition so to speak. I’d like to have an alternative theory but the sheer size of the storage needed to allow the app to run tells me it would have to be installed as part of a server network or server farm.

“We’re left with two possibilities, one that she thinks she could go insane and try to eliminate her human assets. The other possibility, another machine, or AI that might attempt to eliminate her and her assets, while almost beyond imagination, is actually a more logical option.

“I think we have to consider the possibility that _She_ has discovered either an existing AI or a project designed to develop an AI that shows promise. And I think we should do two things:

“First, get the app She provided operational ASAP,

“And second, prepare a contingency plan to deal with a _rival_ , for lack of a better term, AI including the possibility that you might have to eventually go to war with it. She's pretty good at scenarios so if this worries her, it should worry us.”

Finch stared over at the hacker.

“As much as I'd like to disagree with your assessment, I'm inclined to agree. I want the two of you working on this. Keep me in the loop.”

He left the room, leaving Root and Gen staring at each other. Logan Pierce mumbled something about having some things to work on and left as well. The pair gazed at each other, both smiling fondly until Root’s face changed slightly.

“We’ve got no time for sappy reunions, there’s work to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> I think this can stand on it's own, I have other projects, but I can't seem to leave these characters alone. As always, comments are appreciated.


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